Doctor Who: Architect : Short Story Collection :
by NemesisNexus
Summary: A collection of stories spanning over the whole of the Doctors' life so far, as he faces of against a mysterious adversary.    Chapters are designed to be read in the order presented, from the perspective of the Doctor rather than chronologically.
1. Chapter 11 : The First Doctor

**Chapter 11**

**The First Doctor**

At the start of the universe, there was a big bang. Matter began to expand at an outstanding rate, rushing outwards, creating stars and planets. Until it was stopped.

A large golden blanket of energy spread around the ball of flame that was the universe, as if trying to smother it. The sheet of particles closed around its target, struggling to contain the ever outstanding mass.

* * *

><p>The Doctor held on to the console as the interior of the ship shook violently, prompting a quick glance at the wall that housed the fault locator. However, all of the instruments remained blank. Something was wrong though, he'd been flying the ship long enough to know that. The Doctor desperately pressed at buttons, attempting to remember which one was the stabiliser. Ian, Barbara and Susan were all sleeping, and the last thing they needed was to be woken up by being thrown out of their beds.<p>

Suddenly the TARDIS ground to a halt, the central column dropping sharply as all of the lights around the console went out. After another quick check of the fault locator, the Doctor immediately turned his attention to the fast return switch, poking at it to make sure it wasn't sticking again. He had seen the ship act like this before, and had a horrible feeling that he had been bought back to the place, or rather time, where the original fault had taken place. This time, however, it didn't seem to be through any fault of his own. Taking hold of his jacket, as had become habit; he stared intently at the console, before looking up to the monitors, which were completely blank.

"Sometimes, I wish I had stolen a more reliable ship." The Doctor muttered. Almost immediately, the monitor lit up. If he hadn't have known better, he would have sworn the ship was responding to him.

Immediately, the Doctor knew he had been right. There it was, in all its glory. The creation of the universe. So many cultures had different theories on this one moment in time. The Doctor chuckled to himself. His human companions would have been thrilled to see this, but then they would know the truth. They would have no reason to theorise, no reason to try and advance their understanding. Sometimes, the Doctor thought, ignorance really was bliss.

It was then he noticed something different. It was almost like a bubble inflating around the burning mass of the universe.

"Impossible." The Doctor said, intrigued. "That's not right at all." He pressed a button hopefully, and smiled when he realised he had hit the analyser button as planned.

Lines and numbers scrolled on the monitor, too quickly for the human eye to process, but the Doctor took it all in immediately.

"Can't be." He whispered to himself. "Shows signs of being from…" He stopped himself saying the name. "What would they be doing here? Interfering old fools."

At that moment the Doctor was glad that he was on his own in the console room. He knew for certain Chesterton or Barbara would have commented on his hypocrisy.

* * *

><p>For a few seconds a battle raged between the universe and the being, before the universe won. The sphere of energy recoiled violently, unable to constrain the expansion anymore.<p>

At that moment, he heard a very familiar noise as a ship ripped its way through the space-time continuum. As soon as he had registered the sound, the being knew this was the end. It was time to give up. No more chances.

As his form shrunk back down, he watched the ever growing universe, sighing as he recalled everything that would happen, had happened, within it.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS shuddered sharply and the large doors swung open.<p>

Although he saw nothing, the Doctor sensed something entering the TARDIS, a presence so vivid yet completely intangible, a feeling that chilled his bones and started his hearts beating even faster than normal. He turned to face the doors, and the new presence inside the ship. A golden mist of energy appeared to float in to the machine, before coming together, forming a humanoid shape. The Doctor quickly noted the figure's odd appearance. He wore an old beaten blue jacket, with beige patches on the elbows. Long black hair flopped down his face, almost covering his eyes, and around his neck was a dark green bow tie.

"You look so old, Doctor." The voice was cold and emotionless, almost muted yet filled the console room. "For one so young."

"And you look rather ridiculous." The Time Lord replied. "For one with the cheek to force himself in to my ship."

"You'll appreciate the look one day Doctor," the voice replied. "Right now, I get it, it looks foolish, but one day." He fondled his bow tie. "One day, you'll say this is 'cool'."

"I very much doubt that young man. " The Doctor replied sharply. "I am assuming we have met before then." The Doctor turned his back to the doors, his attention back on the central console. "I know my body is wearing thin, but my old mind is still as sharp as it used to be. And I don't recall you. How do you explain that? Hm?"

"One day Doctor. One day you'll understand." There was a pause. "The story is just beginning for you, but for me, it is the end."

"What nonsense are you babbling on about now? And why exactly, are we at the beginning of the universe?" Although there was no read out on the instruments, the Doctor was certain this was where the ship had been drawn to. "I've been here before you know. Not the best place for a holiday."

"As I have found out Doctor. I came here to stop it before it even began." For the first time the Doctor sensed a hint of sadness from the figure.

"Stop what? There is nothing out there. Not yet."

"Exactly. The perfect time to nip the human race in the bud. Stop their very existence."

"Impossible!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Besides, what would compel you to do that? They may be a pain at times, but they are most certainly becoming my favourite species." He stopped suddenly. "Just don't tell Chetterson that, hm?" The Doctor realised he was diverting from the point. "You can't stop the creation of the universe!"

"You rebooted it." The figure quipped. "But, our opinion of them is irrelevant now. This was my last chance, I have tried everything else. Stopping their progression, changing their history. All failed. And, as you say, stopping the creation of their universe is impossible. Trying has all but killed me." There was a long silence. "And your presence here truly does mean it is the end for me."

"Nonsense! Are you implying that I have killed you?" His tone changed, patience wearing thin. "You boarded my ship! Why?"

"To return something I took from you a long time ago. Something I have been repaying for a very long time now. I've been running, but it's time to stop."

"Taken something you say? What? When?"

"A long time ago for me, Doctor. A long time to come, for you. As for what, you will find out, when the time is right. But for now, my time is up. My chances are gone."

The Doctor stared at the figure, his eyes burning in to the stranger.

"I have had enough of this impertinence, You will explain yourself. Now!"

"No time for that Doctor. But the time for explanations will come. You will meet me again." For the first time the Doctor saw a smile on the figures face.

The figure spread his arms out wide, and golden energy poured from his arms and face as he faded away.

As the physical form disappeared, The Doctor also felt the presence fade, as if the pressure in the room was changing dramatically. The doors of the TARDIS swung closed as the console lit up, a bank of buttons at a time. It may have been his imagination, but the Doctor felt a spark of energy inside himself, something he hadn't felt for a long time in this old body.

"Grandfather!" Susan shouted, as the doors to the sleeping quarters opened, Barbara following behind her. "What's going on?"

"Yes Doctor," Ian added, entering the room. "I heard voices too. Shouting, almost. Don't tell me you were arguing with the ship again?"

"Or himself." Barbara added.

"Oh, nothing to worry about." The Doctor smiled gently, adjusting his coat. He felt invigorated, so much so that he was willing to ignore their flippant remarks. "Now then, as you're all out of bed, you may as well get dressed." He looked down at the console. "Looks like the ship has locked on to some new co-ordinates. A new day beckons!"

As his companions headed back to the bedroom, the central column of the TARDIS burst back in to life. However, even over the noise of the ancient engines, the Doctor could hear a faint voice.

"None left."

* * *

><p>Death was nowhere near as painful as he had imagined. As the last piece was returned, he felt a sense of freedom, one he had not felt for such a long time. The urge, the obsession had vanished all together, replaced by a sense of satisfaction and understanding. These were the last emotions he felt as his very existence faded away in to the ether.<p>

Seeing the Doctor, so old, yet so young, had filled in many of the blank pieces of the puzzle that had wrapped itself around his brain for so long. The authority, the sometimes crotchety demeanour, all topped off with an incomparable sense of compassion. All of those, combined with what he had already seen, made everything make perfect sense at last.

Having all those emotions, and more, running through his head his whole life had almost been over whelming, trying to understand each one, deciding which of all his different emotions to guide him. Which ones to take notice of and which ones to ignore.

Ultimately, it was his, and the Doctor's compassion that had driven all of his plans. He knew something had to be done in order to save the human race. The latest plan was extreme, but all of his previous attempts had failed. He had tried to stop suffering, but just created more.

Even his attempts to advance mankind had met resistance and eventually been thwarted. Time and time again he failed, leading up to this one last chance. If he was to succeed in saving the human race, the only way he could see was to stop them ever existing.

He knew that his final gambit was a risky one, and as soon as he had attempted to wrap his true form around the greatly expanding universe he realised how futile it was. It was not, however, the intense burning of a newly formed universe that had sealed his fate, but the appearance of that familiar blue box. As always, he knew this meant a change was coming. But this time, it was for good.

As the TARDIS had appeared, he just could not understand why the Doctor would not accept that he was right. After all, they both shared the same admiration for Earth and its inhabitants, but the Doctor seemed unwilling to do anything to save them from their own history. The Time Lord always showed so much anger and sadness when tragedy struck the species, but at the same time would often let the events unfold. The decision had been made from his rebirth- whilst the Doctor would be the one to fix the human race, he would shape them. He would be their Architect.


	2. Chapter 9 : The Second Doctor

**Chapter 9**

**The Second Doctor**

A pterosaur flew overhead, it's scream reaching for miles, as the Doctor and Jamie stood atop a large cliff, looking down to the majestic sight below.

"It's a bit greener than I'd imagined Doctor." Jamie commented with his Scottish twang, glancing over the large amount of conifer-like plants down below.

"It's the late Cretaceous period Jamie." The Doctor responded, taking a fob watch from his jacket pocket. "Very late Cretaceous period. Which is no doubt part of the reason we were sent here."

"Why Doctor? What happens here?"

The Time Lord looked to his companion, reminding himself that Jamie was from the 18th century. He couldn't expect him to know of history as far back as this.

"Something happens." He explained slowly. "A meteor collides with the Earth, and wipes out all life. It's known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event."

Jamie ignored the last comment.

"That explains why I've never seen those beasties before then." He pointed out in to the distance where a small herd of three horned beasts drank contently from a large lake.

"Ah! Triceratops!" The Doctor exclaimed, his excitement obvious. "Let's get down there shall we, take a closer look?"

"But Doctor, that's miles away! Are we at least going to use the TARDIS?"

The Doctor looked behind him to his time machine, then to his companion. Usually the Time Lord would have rather have enjoyed the walk, but knowing what other creatures roamed this particular period of time, perhaps it was a better idea to keep the TARDIS close.

"Ok then." He smiled, taking the key from his pocket. "Just this once. I know I'm getting better at taking us where we need to go, but let's not push it eh?"

"Of course not Doctor." Jamie grinned as he followed his old friend in to the TARDIS, picking a rouge piece of greenery from a nearby conifer off of his sporran. He paused in the doorway to take a quick look around, when a mighty roar from the distance prompted him to rush inside, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

><p>The Architect sighed as he felt the presence of the TARDIS nearby. He had come to expect it now, every time he put a plan in to motion the sound of those engines would remind him of every other time he had failed, and just how many chances he had left. By now, he had discovered the reason behind his mixed appearances. This time, as he had predicted, he sported short cropped hair and a long flowing leather jacket.<p>

He moved awkwardly towards the device that was the backbone of his latest plan. Consisting of a large metal cylinder, it stood at around five foot tall, with a panel of controls running around the outside, about halfway up. He quickly tapped on a few of the buttons and the device whirred in to live. He could hear the internal workings spinning inside the tube, warming up ready to fulfill its purpose.

Moments later a silvery beam shot from the top of the device, narrowly missing a soaring pterosaur. It burnt upwards, through the lower atmosphere before stopping and arcing out in all directions, wrapping the entire planet in a silver web.

If he had known how, the Architect would have grinned. Instead he felt a great sense of satisfaction. The time was coming, and not even the Doctor would be able to deactivate the device before the impact was supposed to happen.

He had learnt by now that the human race were beyond saving via minor interference. He had to be much less subtle if he were to change anything. They had become so complacent, sat at the top of the food chain. Always the hunter. This meant they had no real reason to grow or adapt as a species.

The Architect knew that a large change like this would have to be made early in Earth's hostpry, a thought that had inspired his newest endeavor.

If he couldn't save the human race, he was going to save the dinosaurs.

* * *

><p>"Magnificent, aren't they?" The Doctor commented, observing the look of wonder on Jamie's face as they watched a Triceratops slam its head in to the trunk of a large tree, sending it crashing to the ground with a large crack of splintering wood, followed by a thud. The beast gave the fallen plant an almost smug look, before tucking in on the leaves.<p>

Soon, several other Triceratops joined the feast, the Doctor and his Scottish companion still watching in awe. Suddenly, the Doctor noticed something.

"Jamie, I want you to stay very still."

Jamie froze. He knew the Doctor's serious voice.

"What is it?"

"You appear to have found a friend." He gestured to the ground. "Should be safe enough, but no sudden movements."

Jamie looked to where the Doctor had indicated, to see a baby Triceratops by his feet. It's head was no bigger than an adult human skull. He knelt down slowly, as the beast looked at him inquisitively."

"Mustn't be older than a year old." The Doctor half whispered, as the Triceratops nuzzled against the soft material of Jamie's kilt. "It's horns have already started to develop. Fascinating."

"Affectionate little beastie, aren't ye?" Jamie said, hesitantly stroking the leathery back of the beast.

All of a sudden, the sky was enveloped in a silver glow, as strands of light spread above them.

"Doctor, what's that?" Jamie exclaimed, as the small Triceratops ran, startled, back to its pack.

"I have no idea. But I'd be willing to bet it's why we were sent here." The Doctor said thoughtfully, before being cut off by a large roar.

"What was that!" Jamie shouted. "I heard it earlier too."

"Well, I, er, may not have mentioned some of the other creatures that occupied this time period."

"Doctor?"

"Let's just say, some of them are not as gentle as our three horned friend over there."

The Triceratops pack had also been startled by the noise, and left their meal running as quickly as they could. The ground was shaking, a warning of a large beast heading their way. There was another roar as a creature appeared over the top of a low cliff face, it's head held high and sharp teeth bared.

"Oh my giddy aunt!" The Doctor cried, turning on the spot. He knew he didn't need to tell Jamie to run. They headed in the direction of the TARDIS, when another roar echoed around them.

"Can't go that way! There's another one!" The Doctor shouted, changing direction towards a small prairie that the pair had admired from a distance when they had first landed. "That way!"

Jamie looked back to where they had come from, and immediately wished he hadn't when he saw the sight of the first beast making a meal of one of the adult Triceratops. He knew that he should be worrying about himself right now, but a very large part of him was hoping that his newly found friend made it out of this alive.

"What are they?" Jamie yelled to the Doctor, who was now lagging slightly behind the younger man.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex!" The Time Lord replied. "Fiercest predator of this period."

The two kept running, gaining ground as the two Tyrannosauruses made light work of the Triceratops that had been too slow to get away. Suddenly, Jamie came to a halt, and waited for the Doctor to catch him up.

"Now, I'm no expert Doctor, but I can tell this isn't right."

"No, Jamie, it isn't. Not at all." The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and held it to the machine. He then held his ear to it for a few moments.

"It's recharging." He confirmed, walking around the circular device. "Most likely what is generating that force field."

"Force field?" Jamie questioned. "But didn't you say this is the period that a meteor strikes? The Cretary–Tertious Stinction event?"

"Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event." The Doctor corrected. "But close enough. You may well be on to something my boy. This force field would destroy anything heading in to the atmosphere. If the meteor doesn't hit the whole of Earth history will change."

"What will change Doctor?"

The Time Lord paused for a moment.

"Everything. If the dinosaurs don't die out, the human race may never evolve. The dinosaurs may become the dominant species for millennia. And who knows what they will become."

"Scaly humans with big teeth and tiny arms?"

"Hm, maybe something like that yes." The Doctor looked back, as the ground began to shake again. "We will have to worry about this later. Run!"

The pair charged off across the prairie once again. The Doctor could feel both of his hearts beating as fast as they could possibly go, but knew he couldn't stop. Thinking about it though, he knew he at least made it to his Sixth regeneration, so he couldn't be in too much danger. Pushing that aside, he kept on running, reminding himself that time could be rewritten.

The two Tyrannosauruses lumbered across the prairie, the bulk of their bodies overhanging their center of gravity. Jamie noted that they didn't seem to be overly mobile, a fact he wasn't going to complain about right now. The Doctor too, was taking note of the beast's movements.

"Jamie!" The Doctor shouted. "I have an idea, split up!" The Doctor darted in one direction, leaving Jamie to run in the opposite. The Tyrannosauruses quickly made the decision to follow, slowing down and turning clumsily. One of them swung its massive tail around, straight in to the base of the silver machine.

With a crash it fell to the floor and the silver streaks of light overhead vanished as the damaged machine whirred away, attempting to keep going. As a final attempt it spat out a stream of silver slivers, now firing across the ground as the device was laying on its side. One struck the dinosaur that had been pursuing the Doctor, and it instantly dissolved in to nothing, leaving only the echo of a roar behind it.

"Doctor!" Jamie shouted, as the one remaining beast continued to lumber after him, roaring loudly.

"Don't worry Jamie!" The Doctor shouted, running over to the fallen machine.  
>"Easy for you to say, with your force filed machine!"<p>

"Watch and learn dear boy. Improvisation."

He knelt on the ground, resting the device against his knee, holding it steady with one hand whilst reaching for his Sonic Screwdriver with the other. With a burst from the pen like device, the larger machine spluttered in to life. The Doctor carefully aimed the makeshift weapon at the Tyrannosaurus, hoping Jamie kept it running in a generally straight line.

With the press of a button, the machine let loose one final burst of silver energy, searing just above the ground and striking the beast straight in the back. The Tyrannosaurus vanished from existence, cut off in mind roar.

With another burst from the Screwdriver, the machine collapsed in to pieces. The Doctor leant over with interest, looking the device over briefly before turning his back and walking away.

"Alright dear boy?" The Doctor said as Jamie approached him, before putting his hand on the young mans shoulder.

"Think so. Nothing a good rest won't take care of."

"Right then." The Doctor said, spinning on the spot. "I think our work here is done. For now. Back to the TARDIS!"

"What do you mean for now?"

The Doctor pointing up to the sky, where Jamie could briefly make out the shape of a distant object.

"That doesn't look like a meteorite to me. Even from here."

"How can you tell?"

"I can't. Not for sure. Maybe I'll find out one day."

* * *

><p>The Architect watched on as the Doctor and Jamie headed back to the TARDIS, joined on their walk by the baby Triceratops.<p>

He knew it was always likely to end this way, the Doctor had told him as much, but as long as the he had a chance, he knew he must try. As he observed the Doctor and Jamie opening the TARDIS door, not before a warm farewell with their three horned friend, the Architect felt the now familiar sensation of loss as part of him was returned to where it once came and he once again became a new man.

"Two lives left."


	3. Chapter 3 : The Third Doctor

**Chapter 3**

The Third Doctor

The Doctor sighed loudly as another group of bustling soldiers passed noisily past the door of his UNIT office. He was sat at his desk, papers strewn across one half with a microscope and other pieces of scientific equipment on the other.

"I don't know how they expect anyone to work around here." He muttered as the door creaked open behind him.

"Well, it's not every day an alien species walks in to HQ is it?" Liz said playfully, prompting the Doctor to spin around in his chair to face her.

"Really? Where are they now?" The Time Lord jumped to his feet.

"With the Brigadier I think."

The Doctor groaned.

"Then let's hope he hasn't shot it yet."

"Now, now Doctor." Liz said gently. "You might not always agree with his methods, but you know that the Brigadier only ever does what he thinks is best."

"Yes, well that's the problem Liz. What he thinks is best and what I think are best are quite often completely different things."

* * *

><p>Later that day, the Doctor knocked impatiently on the door to the Brigadiers office. He had been invited, so didn't seem the need to knock but UNIT staff seemed to insist on it.<p>

"Come in Doctor." Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart called from behind his desk. "I've got someone I want you to meet."

The Doctor pushed the door open and saw the Brigadier stood behind his desk, his alien visitor rising to her feet. She stood at around six foot tall and was dressed head to toe in white, with a large hat. The only part of her body not covered was her feline face, covered in a light brown fur, with whiskers protruding from her cheeks.

"Doctor, this Sister Jailt." The Brigadier gestured to the humanoid cat. "Sister, this is the man I was telling you about, the Doctor. My scientific advisor."

"Charmed." The Doctor smiled, taking Jailt's hand, noting her rather sharp, and presumably retractable, claws.

"Likewise." Jailt smiled. "The Brigadier has told me so much about you."

"Where as I know nothing about you." The Doctor smiled softly. "What brings you here? And where is it you are from?"

"I hail from the Planet of New Earth in the year 5,000,000,026." She noted the Doctor's concerned look. "Don't worry, I have not told the Brigadier anything of his future. As for your first question, I cannot answer exactly what has bought me here but I believe it is a mission of salvation."

The Doctor took a chair as Jailt explained.

"I am a member of the Sisters of Plenitude. We are an order dedicated to undertake the work of Santori, the goddess of healing."

"A nurse then." The Doctor nodded. "I take it this was an unplanned trip?"

"Yes. I was working with my usual patients, when all of a sudden I vanished, and found myself here."

"Literally here." The Brigadier added. "I had to stop one of the new recruits from shooting on sight."

"That makes a change." The Doctor sighed, before turning back to Jailt. "You mentioned salvation?"

"When I arrived here, I had this." She explained, showing a small bag that was hanging from her neck. "Inside are a selection of medications we use regularly, which can cure almost any known disease." She paused. "I was not wearing this when I left the ward, it literally appeared on my arrival."

The Doctor leant forward.

"You mean to say you think you are here to pass these drugs on to mankind?"

"Undoubtedly." She nodded with conviction. "Santori has chosen me to deliver salvation."

* * *

><p>"You know I'm going to have to destroy these, don't you?" The Doctor said, looking up from his microscope to see the Brigadier leaning intently over his shoulder.<p>

"I thought you might say that Doctor. And you know that I disagree."

"These drugs are from the future. The very far future. There is a reason it took so any years to develop these. Hundreds of thousands of years of development of species and technology. You can't skip all that Lethbridge Stewart." He looked him in the eye. "Not even you can cheat like that."

"You heard what she said Doctor. These drugs can cure just about everything." He paused. "Every disease we know of how, and every one to come. Think of all of the people we can save."

"People who weren't meant to be saved." The Doctor frowned. "I know the temptation, I really do, but it isn't that easy. If I allow you to have these, the whole future of your race changes."

"And if you don't," the Brigadier barked, "you would have condemned millions of people to a death that could have been prevented."

The Doctor stood up, placing himself between the Brigadier and the array of tablets on the table.

"Says the man who destroyed the entire Silurian race 'just in case'."

"This conversation is not over Doctor." The Brigadier glared at him intently. "You don't get to make this choice. I will be back in one hour when I want your objective and scientific opinions of these drugs." He made for the door. "I trust you not to do anything foolish."

* * *

><p>The Doctor held the beaker of acid over the petri-dish, hesitating slightly. He knew what must be done, but the Brigadier did have a slight point, even if he never would admit it to his face. If the course of human history included a gift from Catkind, was it really the Doctor's place to snatch it from them?<p>

Before he could think it over anymore, the door burst open. His back still facing the door, the Doctor called out, still holding the beaker.

"I thought I had an hour, Lethbridge Stewart."

Rather than the Brigadier, it was Sister Jailt that answered.

"The Brigadier said you were not overly pleased with my gift." She snarled. "And I can almost understand why, given what I know of you." The Doctor gave her a quick glance.

"And what, prey-tell, do you know of me?"

"Enough. There are stories of your attempts to stop progress. But this time, I cannot allow you to stand in the way of the work of Santori."

She hissed, stepping slowly towards the Doctor as she removed her white gloves and threw them on the floor. She held her hands up in front of her, to make sure the Doctor could see her claws sliding from her paws.

The Doctor quickly jumped up from his chair, throwing his red cape over his shoulder.

"I am aware it's not very gentlemanly to fight a woman, but I get the feeling you're not going to give me much choice."

He took his familiar Venusian Akido stance, waiting for his moment.

Sister Jailt hissed once again, lunging at the Doctor, claws aimed for his face. The Time Lord quickly ducking, and delivered a sweeping kick which knocked the cat off balance. She quickly recovered, slashing wildly, a claw slashing through the silk of the Doctor's cape.

"Now that was just uncalled for." The Time Lord quipped, delivering a blow to Jailt's back with the right hand. He quickly followed it up with a powerful kick, sending his attacker flying backwards.

To his amazement, she kept her balance, landing perfectly on her feet.

"Should have known." The Doctor muttered, quickly running a hand through his curled hair and adjusting the frills on his shirt before turning his attention back to the fight at hand.

"You will not disrupt Santori's will!" Jailt growled, throwing herself at the Doctor. He stumbled backwards, crashing in to the table behind him. Papers and equipment went flying, along with the petri-dish full of pills and beaker of acid, the latter of which shattered on the floor, its contents hissing viciously.

"No!" The Sister of Plenitude screamed, as the selection of pills scattered across the floor, some burning up in the small pool of acid. She jumped viciously at the Doctor, still laying flat on his back, her claws and teeth bared, ready for a kill.

The Doctor threw his arms out in front of him, in a desperate attempt to protect himself from the manically slashing cat.

Suddenly a large bang filled the room and Jailt stopped suddenly, a look of pain appearing on her face as she fell sideways from the Doctor, landing on her back next to him. The Doctor looked up to the doorway to see the Brigadier, holstering his gun.

"You fool." The Doctor snapped, before getting to his knees and turning his attention to Jailt.

"Forgive me Santori." She gasped, a paw covering the red stain spreading across her white uniform. "He said this would fulfil your will. And I have failed you."

The Doctor put his hand under her head, raising it.

"Who said that?" He demanded. "Who sent you here?"

Struggling to keep her eyes open, Jailt responded with her last breath.

"When I first saw you," she gasped, "I thought it was you. So similar in appearance, but so different." Her head dropped back. "The Architect."

Sighing deeply, the Doctor gently closed Jailt's eyes before getting to his feet and angrily turning to the Brigadier.

"Is this how you treat everyone who tries to give your race a gift?"

"You were the one who said we had to destroy the drugs Doctor."

"But that didn't mean she had to die!"

"She was going to kill you. You are much more use to me than she would have been. Besides, her drugs had already been destroyed."

"Is that what it comes down to? Her medicine was the only thing keeping her alive?" He pointed accusatively at the Brigadier. "Can I expect the same treatment when I outlive my usefulness?"

"Just don't give me a good enough reason Doctor." The Brigadier said, turning to the door.

The Doctor sighed as he exited, scanning the floor for any of the remaining pills. Catching sight of one he stamped on it aggressively, grinding it to dust.

* * *

><p>The Architect looked on as UNIT soldiers moved Sister Jailt from the Doctor's office, carefully manoeuvring her through the door as the Doctor observed sadly, snapping at them if it looked like they were treating her with any less than the maximum amount of dignity.<p>

The Architect too, was experiencing sadness. Jailt had been more than willing to accept his offer, though it was under the false pretence of doing the will of her Goddess. He had known that she would not necessarily come out of this alive, but even still her sacrifice left him with a sense of guilt that he had not felt before.

He sighed, feeling another part of himself drift away. Things had begun to make a little more sense now though, at least now he knew how the Doctor had known his name.

"Eight lives left."


	4. Chapter 1 : The Fourth Doctor

**Chapter 1**

**The Fourth Doctor**

The empty white room was filled with a harsh groaning noise, a wind whipping up from nowhere as the very fabric of time and space was momentarily ripped apart. The man in the chair watched on helplessly, and in amazement, as a large shape began to fade in to site before his eyes.

"Entlassen Sie mich! Das ist eine Aufforderung!" The prisoner barked in his native tongue, pulling desperately with his hand, restrained behind his back where they were attached to the strange chair he was sitting on by some kind of shackles. The chair appeared to have been one solid piece, a solid structure rather than a seat with separate legs.

The wheezing noise faded away and the prisoner stared open mouthed In front of him stood a large blue box, which from outside appearances had seen better days. One of the doors slowly creaked open as a tall figure pushed his way out of the box. He was dressed like a madman, with knee high boots, a brown coat and a scarf that was at least four times the length it needed to be. The bizarre figure stepped out and looked around the room briefly, double taking as he saw the prisoner sat in the centre of the room.

He gave a large toothy grin and reached in to his coat pockets.

"Was hat das zu bedeuten?" The Austrian shouted. "Kennen Sie mich doch nicht?"

The man smiled gently, holding out a small, yet larger than his pocket, paper bag.

"Mòchten Sie ein Gelee Säugling?"

* * *

><p>The man stared back blankly at the Doctor.<p>

"I said," he repeated. "Would you like a jelly baby?" He was met again by a piercing, angry stare. "Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Of course!" He looked top the mans hands, firmly secured behind his back, and carefully pulled a sweet from the bag. He leant forward, and gently popped it in to the prisoner's mouth, noting his rather large moustache.

The Doctor quickly jumped back as the man spat his gift on to the floor.

"Now, there was no need for that, was there?" He looked at the remains of the jelly baby on the floor. "Mind you, I don't really like the green ones either."

"Your first attempt failed, so now you try to poison me!" The man roared at the Doctor.

"Now," the Doctor said quietly, stepping back to the TARDIS. "I know you're a bit rude, but why would I want to poison you?." He pushed the police box door open. "Romana, come out here! Someone has a bit of a rude guest!"

Allowing the door to swing closed, the Doctor paced around the chair slowly, taking note of the small shackles around the strangers wrists. Each one was white and looked almost metallic. Holding the two wrists together was a central piece, a plan white sphere, which the Doctor was sure he had seen somewhere before.

"You will pay for this!" The man shouted again. "First you try to assassinate me cowardly with bombs, now you kidnap me and attempt to take my life with poison! Perhaps the reputation of the Black Hand is not as well deserved as I thought."

"The Black Hand?" Romana questioned, stepping out of the TARDIS. She looked to the Doctor, who all of a sudden had become very concerned.

"The Black Hand you say?" He questioned, leaning over the man's shoulder form his position behind the chair. "That is concerning." He stroked his chin before running a hand through his mad curly hair. "And what year is it you think it is? What date!"

"You are really the best the Hand has to offer!" The prisoner mocked, the TARDIS translation circuits still leaving a hint of his harsh Austrian accent.

"Humour me." The Doctor looked to Romana, and could tell from the look on her face she had not figured it out just yet.

"It is June 27. 1914."

"I thought so." The Doctor grimaced, and walked over the Romana. She was wearing her pink coat and scarf, a facsimile of the Doctor's own outfit. "Romana." he forced a smile, and gestured to the restrained man. "Meet the Archduke of Austria-Este, and heir-presumptive to the Austro Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand."

* * *

><p>"Stop your plotting, cowards!" Ferdinand shouted at the TARDIS, his voice echoing around the otherwise empty white room.<p>

"Don't you know your history young lady?" The Doctor half-scolded, his hands on the TARDIS console.

"My twentieth century Earth is a little bit sketchy." Romana replied, sheepishly.

"Mine can't afford to be." The Doctor said to himself, before tapping a few buttons and gesturing to the TARDIS monitor.

On the screen flashed brutal images of war, young men's final moments as they died in the heat of battle. Explosions, gun fire and screaming.

The Time Lord saw the distressed look on his companions face and stopped the images.

"It's terrible." Romana said quietly.

"Yes." The Doctor replied thoughtfully. "And it is the death of that man out there which causes all of it."

"Then why is he here?"

"Some ones attempt to stop the war." He bit his lip.

"So by being locked up here, he can't be killed and none of that ever happens?" Romana said, cheering up slightly. "That's wonderful, none of those people have to die!"

"You know that isn't how it works Romana." The Doctor said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "There is so much that comes from the Great War," he pulled a displeased face, "hate that name, whoever thought of calling a war 'great'? Anyway, so much in human history happens because of that war. If we allow it to never happen, everything changes."

"But if it doesn't happen, no one dies! Surely that's good?"

"You really think that if we leave him here, mankind won't find another reason to go to war!" The Doctor's voice had raised in to a shout. "Have you learnt nothing from travelling with me? Humans are great for all sorts of things, unfortunately, meaningless violence is one of them!" He angrily pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and stormed back outside of the TARDIS.

Romana followed, watching her friend stride towards the Archduke purposefully.

"Tell me, assassin," his voice was softer than before, "what have you done to my family?"

"Your family?" The Doctor asked. "Nothing. As you seem to forget, I have already told you, it was not me who brought you here, so why would I touch them, eh?"

"Lies!" Ferdinand screamed. "I do not care what else you lie about, but I must know, my family. Are they dead?"

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, looking at the moustached face of the Archduke. His eyes bore straight at the Doctor.

"No." He responded. "Your wife and sons are still alive."

"Thank goodness." His voice was different now, his relief overcoming his anger and fear.

The Doctor turned away, and stood close to Romana.

"How can I do it?" He half whispered. "If I release him, he, and his wife, only have another day to live. Millions of people will die. I subject mankind to four years of hell. There is no upside."

"And if you don't?"

"I change the history of the whole of mankind. The war reached everywhere Romana. Sixty sovereign states were involved, four empires fell." He looked his companion in the eye, looking for a sign of what to do. "Who knows what might happen if those empires continued even a year longer? And then there's all the other developments. What if mankind weren't forced to advance their airplanes for example?" He paused thoughtfully. "They'd have to walk everywhere."

"Then you have to do it." Romana said kindly, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her face. "You know you do."

"Bit extreme just to avoid some walking though, don't you think?" He smiled sadly, before squeezing her hand tightly. "Thank you."

"Remember Doctor." she whispered. "You didn't cause the war."

"No, but I'm ensuring it happens. That's as good as."

"You don't really believe that."

The Doctor said nothing.

The Time Lord walked back over the where Ferdinand was sat, and knelt down, their heads were at the same level.

"Archduke, I am going to let you go." He sighed. "Is there anything I can do for you first?"

"I would accept nothing from you." The Austrian snarled. "Black Hands scum!"

"Now, now." The Doctor half smiled. "Let's not leave it on a sour note, shall we?" He reached in to his pocket, revealing another jelly baby.

"Red this time." He showed Ferdinand, before popping it in his mouth. He watched as the man chewed before swallowing the sweet.

"See," The Time Lord grinned. "Not that bad, are they? Not sour at all."

He walked back around to behind the chair, taking a closer look at the restraints holding Ferdinand in place. Romana quickly joined him at his side.

"Temporal restraints." She gasped. "Keeping him in this time and place."

"Indeed." The Doctor nodded. "All they need is a quick burst from the Sonic." He paused. "And he goes back to where he came from."

"And all of human history goes on as it should." Romana assured him. He nodded in response, smiling sadly back at her.  
>"Archduke!" He said loudly.<p>

"I thought you were letting me go!" Amateurs!"

"I am. But first, a bit of advice."

"I don't take advice from villainous scum such as yourself."

"Humour me." The Doctor said sternly. "Again." He paused, not looking the Archduke in the eye.

"You must live everyday as if it is your last. Capture every opportunity. Make the most of every moment."

The Archduke merely shrugged and turned his head away from the Doctor.

"Cliché, I know." The Time Lord carried on. "But works for me." He leant in towards Ferdinand.

"Don't worry about your sons. They will be fine."

The Doctor held the Sonic Screwdriver to the restraints and closed his eyes, before pressing the button. With a short screech the tool activated and the restraints popped open. Instantaneously the Archduke vanished from before their eyes, leaving the metal device to fall harmlessly to the ground.

"Back to his rightful time." The Doctor said solemnly. "Now Romana, back to the TARDIS. I will follow you shortly."

"Why Doctor, what are you-"

"Romana." The Doctor shouted, his tone suddenly very harsh. "TARDIS. Now."

The young Time Lady quickly obeyed, but not before giving him a hurt look.

"Now!" The Doctor shouted. "Show yourself! I know it was you behind this!" Silence.

"Architect!" The cry echoed throughout the room, shaking the doors of the TARDIS. All of a sudden he felt a presence around him, and a shape form from a cloud of golden particles.

He looked much older than the first time the Doctor had seen him, this time with long grey hair and wearing a frock coat. If the Doctor had not been so angry, he would have commented on how familiar he seemed.

"Doctor?" The Architect asked. "How do you know of me?"

"I'm sure you will find out one day." The Doctor snarled. "But right now, I want to know exactly what it is you are up to."

"I am saving the human race."

"Saving them from what!" The shouted at the still form standing opposite him. "Themselves?"

"Exactly. Without the chance to start a war millions may have lived. Millions that you have now condemned."

"That's what this is about? Saving mankind?" He lowered his voice. "Makes sense really, bringing Jailt forward with the drugs. Saving them before they needed saving."

"I do not know what you speak of." The Architect responded. "But I know you agree with me that mankind are a wonderful race, yet so flawed. By removing the initial cause, so many could have been saved."

"It doesn't work like that!" The Doctor shouted again, feeling a slight pain in his throat. "You can't change things like that. It just makes people like me have to make choices that no one should ever have to make."

"You made one before. You were un-willing to wipe out the entire Dalek race."

""How do you-" The Doctor stopped himself. "That was different."

"Yes." The Architect continued. "Humans have so much that the Daleks never will. Kindness, compassion, empathy. Yet you doom millions of them and allow the creation of the most ruthless race the Universe will ever know."

"I did what I had to do." The Doctor replied, quieter now, subdued. "That's all I ever do."

"Sometimes that is not enough, Doctor." The Architect replied. His tone was soft, not angry or accusing.

"You have your way, this time. But I will try again to save mankind." There was a sense of determination in the voice that the Doctor recognised. "I will succeed."

"Oh, I know you will. Or at least you think you will." He paused. "I was young once too, you know."

"Indeed." The Architect replied. "Farewell for now Doctor." Once again the Doctor observed as golden energy seeped from the body and the form faded away.

The Doctor sighed as he turned away from the empty room and towards the TARDIS.

"Must remember to apologise to Romana." He said to himself, pushing the door open.

As he stepped inside, he felt an odd sensation around him, and a hushed voice.

* * *

><p>The Architect too, felt something strange as he drifted away. It was as if part of his soul had broken free, driven back to its rightful home. It was a new sensation, particularly odd for a being who was used to permanent apathy. He felt a sense of contempt float from him, a weight from his shoulders. He paused, taken aback. He had no idea where tat metaphor had come from. Technically, he didn't even have shoulders.<p>

His original rebirth had introduced him to many feelings he wasn't used to, but this one was new. It was as if everything he had known about who he had been was wrong, it was being overwritten with new thoughts, new feelings.

This, he thought, must be how the Doctor felt.

"Ten lives left."


	5. Chapter 8 :The Fifth Doctor

**Chapter 8**

The Fifth Doctor

"Deserted!" Tegan exclaimed as she stood in the middle of what would have been a perfectly normal twentieth centaury street, if it had not had been littered with apparently abandoned vehicles. The cars, scattered in the road, many of which still had their engines running, were the only real sign that there had ever been any life here.

"So it would seem Tegan." The Doctor answered thoughtfully, absentmindedly folding his hat as he spoke.

"Doctor!" Turlough shouted from the other side of the street, where he stood next to a wide metal gate leading to a series of buildings. The yellow signs painted on the road immediately identified the complex as a school. "No one here either. Evidence of life, but no more than that."

"What could have done this, Doctor?" Tegan asked as the pair crossed the road to join Turlough. The Doctor looked at her.

"Done what, Tegan? There's no evidence anything's happened here."

"All the people have gone!" She responded. "Something must have taken them!"

"Look around you Tegan." The Doctor gestured around him. "No signs of a struggle. Even the car doors are still firmly closed."

"Same in there." Turlough confirmed. "Bags lying on the floor, untouched. It's as if everyone just vanished in to thin air."

"Now Turlough," the Doctor scolded, "you know as well as I do that isn't possible."

"Unless you have a TARDIS." Tegan piped up.

"Or a transmat." Turlough added.

"Well, neither of those are very likely, are they." The Doctor snapped, perching his ht back on his head, before looking to the stick of celery on his lapel. "Atmosphere isn't poisonous, at least."

"Well that is good to know." Tegan said sarcastically. "I was hoping you might have checked that before we came out here."

"Sush, Tegan." The Doctor said, gesturing with a finger to his lip.

"Well, there's no need-" She was cut off.

"Hush!"

The Doctor and his two companions stood in the abandoned street, listening. To begin with the noise of the car engines drowned everything out, but as they listened it became background noise, until they noticed the one other sound in the area.

"Is that..?" Tegan began.  
>"Music?" Yes." The Doctor confirmed. "From.." He looked around, before pointing. "Over there." He started in the direction of the sound, although Turlough stood still.<p>

"Probably just left on when everyone vanished, like the car engines."

"It's rather loud though." Tegan commented.

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded, gesturing for his companions to follow. "Very loud. The sort of volume you could only use if there was no one around to hear it." He turned back impatiently, heading back on his way. "Now come on!"

* * *

><p>"So whatever made everyone vanish is probably in that house?" Turlough said, looking up at the rather small abode. It was a mid-terrace, surrounded on both sides by identical houses.<p>

"That would be the logical conclusion, yes." The Time Lord nodded.

"So why are we going in there?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Tegan replied. "I thought you would have been around him long enough to know by now that that's what the Doctor does."

The Doctor looked rather pleased with himself.

"Give me a crocodile, and I can't resist poking it with a stick." He looked to Tegan, a blank look on her face.

"The problem with that, Doctor." Turlough answered indignantly, "is that eventually you're going to get bitten."

"Let's not make it today then, hm?" The Doctor said, pushing gently on the wooden door, which slid open with no resistance.

The music seemed much louder inside.

"Hello!" The Doctor shouted as he stepped cautiously inside Peering around the corner in to the front room, the Doctor noted that one wouldn't be blamed for thinking that this house had been a battleground. The Doctor knew better though, he had seen far too many battlegrounds to mix one up with a messy room.

"I'll look upstairs." Tegan volunteered.

"Ok, but be careful." The Doctor agreed.

"And turn that music off, will you?" Turlough complained, before heading in to the kitchen, followed closely by the Time Lord.

Empty cartons and bottles littered the floor and wooden round table. Plates were stacked in the sink, remains of food clinging to them.

"Earth people live like this?" Turlough asked, slightly shocked. He had seen some of the things that mankind were capable of, but had not thought that any of them could exist in situations like this.

"Doctor!" Tegans voice came from upstairs, barely audible over the music.

"She could have at least turned it down." Turlough muttered, following the Doctor up the stairs.

Tegan stood in the door way of a rather small room, evidently the one from which the music was coming.

"Look!" She whispered, or the closest she could whilst still being heard.

The Doctor peered in to the room, where, amongst a mess of clothes and possessions, a young boy sat at a desk, his head resting on it. His eyes were closed, but the Doctor could see from where he stood that he was breathing. He turned his attention immediately to the boy's right hand, in which he was holding a pen, his hand laying on what appeared to be a diary.

The Doctor entered the room slowly, pulling at the diary and dislodging it from the slumbering child. He stirred slightly, but soon settled back in to his sleep.

"How can he possibly be sleeping through that?" Turlough asked, amazed.

"Exhausted himself probably." The Doctor pondered, flipping through the diary. "If the mind and body needs sleep that badly, nothing will wake them."

"What do you mean Doctor?" Tegan asked, puzzled.

"Tegan, if you were eleven years old, all alone, you would probably do the same."

"Do what?"

"Stay up all night, do as you please. With no-one to tell you to do all of the boring stuff, why would you?"

"But why is there no-one?" Turlough snapped, frustrated at the Doctor's cryptic manner.

"Because he wished them away." The Doctor answered solemnly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough rushed back to the TARDIS, the Time Lord grasping the diary tightly. The three had sat at the kitchen table back in the house, scouring through the diary, trying to make sense of the rather appalling handwriting.<p>

_The Diary of James Palmer. Aged 11,_ the title page had read. The Doctor had sped read the majority of the pages, which was not difficult due to the large writing which filled the paper.

It was some pages towards the end that had caught his attention.

School was the same today. Everyone was laughing because I couldn't answer anything in maths. I did what Mum had said, and told them it was because I was special but that just made it worse. Even Tom joined in, and he's meant to be my best friend. I wish they would all disappear. All of them.

_School was empty today! None of the teachers were even there. I wished it and it happened!_

_I told Mum about what happened today. She didn't believe me. She shouted at me again, for lying this time. But I wasn't I know it, and you are my proof! It was her fault I got bullied any way! I wish she would just go away and leave me alone._

"How can a normal little boy do all that?" Tegan asked, as she followed the Doctor in to the TARDIS.

"It's the diary, obviously." Turlough commented.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded, rummaging in his coat pocket. "In theory, if we destroy it, everything goes back to normal." He smiled as he successfully showed a small silver lighter to his companions. A small shiver ran down his spine, an unusual feeling and one he had never experienced before. He looked to his companions. It appeared they had felt it too. The feeling quickly faded, however, so the Time Lord imply ignored it and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"And we couldn't have done this in the house?" Turlough muttered.

"If my theory is right, he won't remember any of this." The Doctor replied. "Better if we are not there when he wakes up."

"I still don't understand how a normal diary can make people disappear. What is it Doctor?" Tegan questioned, exasperating the Doctor.

"Many societies use maths as the basis for their science, like both of your own." He looked to his two companions. "But in the same way you can make miracles happen by playing with numbers, some societies can do the same with words." He paused. "It might look like magic, but it's just a different type of science." He paused again, waiting for another response. "May I burn this now?"

"Makes as much sense to me as it's going to." Tegan quipped.

"I understand." Turlough nodded. "I've seen examples before. Members of some of those societies were often accused of being witches, much similar to what happened in mankind's past." He looked to Tegan, who nodded.

The Doctor flicked the lighter open and held the small flame to the diary, which caught light almost immediately. After a few moments the Doctor quickly threw the burning paper to the floor, shaking his hand in pain. He shot Tegan a look, stopping her from commenting.

Pressing a button on the TARDIS console, the screen lit up, showing the street outside. To the surprise of all of them, it was still abandoned.

"Ah." The Doctor said, looking rather embarrassed. "Maybe I was wrong."

Turlough quickly headed for the TARDIS doors, but was stopped in his tracks as he stepped outside.

"It's a brick wall!" He exclaimed, feeling the solid wall carefully. "Definitely real."

"What!" Tegan shouted. "How?"

"It would appear," the Doctor said sheepishly, "that it wasn't the diary that held the power."

"Then what is it!"

"The pen." The Doctor grimaced. "Always mightier than the sword."

* * *

><p>James sat in his room, music still blaring. He yawned, before looking to the scrap of paper on his desk. Looking out of hid high window he could see for a few streets. The brick walls he had created around the strange blue box were still in place. He didn't know who they were, but now he had his power he wasn't going to let anyone get away with wronging him. He didn't need anyone else, now people needed him. He had the power to wish them in and out of existence. For some reason, that hadn't worked on the blue box, but it didn't matter. He would trap them instead.<p>

James suddenly became conscious of the rumbling in his stomach. He'd eaten all of the chocolate in the house and wasn't allowed to use the oven. He quickly re-thought that. Who was going to stop him?

The young boy was about to head downstairs, when his music was downed out by a loud groaning noise. Impossibly, a shape was forming on the landing. It was the same blue box he had sealed off earlier. The people were back to take his pen away.

"Now young man." The stranger said loudly as he stepped out of the box. He looked young, and the way he carried himself reminded James of one of the teachers at school. He wore a beige jacket over a white cricket jumper. "Going to take a lot more than a brick wall to get rid of me." He smiled softly. "How about you hand that pen over, eh?"

"You can't make me!" James shouted back.

"I don't want to have to make you. I'm the Doctor. I'm here to put this right."

"It doesn't need putting right!" James shouted. "I can do what I want!" He held his pen up and quickly ran in to his room, to the scrap of paper on his desk.

"It won't work James." The Doctor said. "You tried before, didn't you? It doesn't have any effect on us. That's why you tried to brick up my TARDIS, isn't it?"

"Why! Who are you?"

"We're not from your world. So you can't erase us from it."

"Just leave me alone!" James screamed, tears starting to form in his eyes. "Just leave me alone! Mum!"

"James." The Doctor stepped towards him, kneeling down to his level. "Think about it."

James stopped. The Doctor was right. He Mum wasn't coming. He'd made her disappear.

"Mum.." James whimpered. "I want my mum."

"You can bring her back." The Doctor smiled as he turned the music off. "You can bring them all back."

James hesitated.

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them." The Doctor smiled again. Watching as the young, frightened boy put pen to paper. "You can't decide who exists and who doesn't. The world just doesn't work like that."

The young boy looked up to the Doctor and sniffed, before turning back to the paper. He thought of the dream he had; the figure who had first given him the pen, promising that it would make everything better. He looked as if he had been picked straight from a book on the Victorian era, and had a charm much like the Doctor's. He had known it was only a dream, but when he had woken the pen had been sitting there on his desk.

The eleven year old knew, however, that the Doctor was right. As much as he had enjoyed his own little world, it was only moments after his mother had been written away that he had begun to miss her. Even the few friends he did have at school had been taken away. He placed the pen to the paper and started to write slowly, taking care to form every word perfectly.

_I wish everything was back the way it was._

* * *

><p>The Doctor twiddled the pen in his fingers as he walked around the TARDIS console.<p>

"Need to get rid of this." He said quietly. "Maybe a black hole."

"They won't remember then?" Tegan said, looking at the TARDIS monitor,

"Shouldn't do." The Doctor replied.

"They don't have anything to remember." Turough added. "They didn't exist, remember."

"Where did that thing come from anyway?" Tegan said, changing the subject.

"A gift I expect." The Doctor replied thoughtfully. "Normal old biro with some borrowed science."

He turned to the console and sighed to himself.

"Oh Architect." He shook his head. "The power to shape a world, and you give it to an angry eleven year old. Good thing your heart is in the right place, or that could have been a lot worse."

As the TARDIS console began to move in to life, the trio watched James on the monitor as he in turn watched the ship dematerialise. His eyes lit up as he heard a shout from downstairs.

"James!" His mum yelled. "What have you being doing? Get down here right now and tidy this mess up!" Despite the tone of her voice, and the telling off that was waiting for him, James was smiling immensely as he raced downstairs.

* * *

><p>The Architect too, watched as the TARDIS dematerialised, and he felt part of himself once again drift away. He just didn't understand.<p>

The Doctor had told him that humans must be the ones to decide their own path, and shape their own future. All he had been trying to do was give them that chance. The boy had been desperate to change his own life, and therefore the perfect subject for this experiment.

The one thing he had neglected to account for was the child's emotions. He had allowed them to rule his decisions rather than his head. He knew his idea was a good one, but it was now evident that the human race lacked the discipline and focus to decide on their own future. There was nothing for it; he was going to have to make the choice for them.

"Three lives left." The Architect sighed to himself as he felt his form change again.


	6. Chapter 2 : The Sixth Doctor

**Chapter 2**

**The Sixth Doctor**

"A space ship!" Peri exclaimed, stepping out of the TARDIS.

"Well deduced Peri." The Doctor grinned, looking around his new surroundings. He cocked his head to the side for a moment. "Judging on the vibrations and speed, a rather large one. Battle cruiser perhaps."

"That doesn't sound very friendly."

"No, battle cruisers don't tend to be, unfortunately." Walking down the long corridor, the Doctor noted the curved ceiling. "No straight lines." He pondered.

"Does that matter?" Peri asked, confused by the Time Lords comment. He wasn't one to normally comment on décor.

"It all matters." He replied. "Because it means I know what kind of ship this is."

"Well?"

"Draconian." He stated bluntly.

"You know who we are, yet still dare to trespass on our battle cruiser?"

The voice came from behind them. Spinning around on the spot, Peri caught sight of two black suited Draconians. They had larger than normal foreheads, which added to their overall reptilian appearance. Peri didn't take time to examine their appearance however, focusing on the guns each one held.

"You will be taken to the bridge to address the Emperor."

"Steady on." The Doctor snapped, raising his hands in to the air, to show he was unarmed. "I'm a Draconain noble you know."

Peri looked to the Doctor, shocked.

"Lies!" The second Draconain snapped, pushing his gun violently against the Doctor's back.

"Leave him alone!" Peri shouted, with a sudden burst of confidence.

"Silence! Not only do you un-rightly claim the great title of noble, your woman dares speak to us without permission?"

"Permission!" Peri was taken aback. "I don't need anyone's permission to speak!"

"Don't I know it." The Doctor remarked. "Calm down Peri, it is just their way." He turned back to the tall reptilians. "And she does talk a bit much." He ignored the look from his companion. "Why don't we clear all this up with your emperor, hm?" The Doctor asked, rather cheerfully, stepping away from the gun and brushing his multicoloured patchwork coat down.

"Or we just kill you now, for your insolence!" The first Draconian barked, pointing his weapon at Peri.

"Doctor!" She screamed, seeing the cold look in the reptile's eyes.

"The last time I met the Draconians, they were a noble race." The Doctor started accusingly, stepping between the weapon and his companion. "Would you now kill unarmed innocents? Much less admirable. No better than a Dalek."

The two Draconians looked to each other before nodding slowly to each other.

"To the bridge." They ordered.

* * *

><p>On the bridge, several Draconian warriors sat at various posts, all looking to the large screen on the main wall. It hissed with static, before fading to black.<p>

"We can still not gain a signal Captain." One confirmed hesitantly, pressing at various buttons on his console. "We appear to be out of range."

"Impossible!" The Captain, his outfit adorned with glittered shoulder pads, shouted. "The communications on this ship are designed to work across galaxies!"

"Too far away from home?" The Doctor questioned, being marched on to the bridge with Peri at his side. "I guess that means I won't be talking to the Emperor any time soon." He muttered, frowning.

"Who are these intruders?" The Captain barked, raising to his feet.

"This one claims to be a noble of our race." One of the guards spat, incredulously.

"You!" The Captain pointed at the Doctor, stepping down from his position. "Your name."

"I am the Doctor." The Time Lord said proudly. "I trust you should have heard of me, unlike your lowly guards here." He turned his nose up.

"Indeed." The Captain stood upright, before bowing to the Doctor. "Apologies for your treatment up to now." He looked to the two guards. "The Doctor is a long time ally of our people. He is a noble and will be treated as such."

"Captain." They said in unison, turning to the Doctor and also bowing.

"And this would be your servant?" The captain gestured to Peri.

"No I would not!" She answered. "I'm his friend!"

"Indeed she is." The Doctor stated, a hint of authority in his voice. "She will be treated the same as myself."

The captain nodded, before addressing the crew.

"The Doctors orders will be obeyed." Some of the crew, particularly the guards, looked to each other with a look of disgust, but saluted their captain.

"Now," The Doctor said, spinning on the spot, scanning the bridge, "now I don't have a gun pointing at me, what seems to be the problem?"

"We have lost all communications with the fleet." The Captain confirmed. "The Earth Empire must be blocking our signal."

"We are in Earth space then?" The Doctor queried.

"The Earth Empire, Doctor?" Peri inquired, hoping to learn of the future of her planet.

"The Earth Empire and the Draconians were long at war." The Doctor frowned to his companion. "But they agreed a compromise."

"What kind of compromise?"

"A no mana land of sorts." The Time Lord explained. "Neither would venture out of their designated space. Doing so would be treated as an act of war."

"Earth have already performed an act of war!" The Captain explained. "We have intelligence.."

"That could be questioned." The Doctor interrupted, a smirk on his face. He looked to Peri, who also grinned. The Captain, however, ignored the remark.

"We have intelligence that Earth have launched a missile aimed for our space. They intend to destroy us in a cowardly surprise attack."

"Curious." The Doctor mused. "And you are here to destroy this missile, I take it?"

"Yes, that is our mission." He turned to one of his men at a console. "Visual."

The large screen lit up, showing a long white missile like craft against the backdrop of space, the Earth clearly visible in the background. Peri tugged on the Doctor's coat.

"Doctor?" She whispered.

"I know." He nodded, reaching in to his coat pocket. "Captain, what year is this?"

"2530." The Draconian responded. "What is the relevance?"

"Oh, it's very relevant." The Doctor replied coyly, looking at the fob watch he had pulled from his pocket. "Because if you think it is the 26th century, we have a problem."

"Enough riddles Doctor." The Captain snapped impatiently. "Explain."

"Well, you see, it is not 2530 at all. The year is in fact 1969." He examined the watch again. "March 1969." He pointed to the image on the screen. "So that makes your 'missile', Apollo 9."

* * *

><p>"The name of the missile is irrelevant." The Captain sneered.<p>

"Oh it very much is relevant." The Doctor replied, frustrated. "That shuttle, is one of mankind's first venture in to space! They've not even landed on the moon yet! You can't shoot it down! It will change everything!"

"Why's it so important Doctor?" Peri questioned. "Apart from the people onboard?"

"Peri, it's Apollo 9." He turned to her and snapped. She did always ask the most stupid questions at the most inconvenient times.

"So? All these space shuttles look the same to me."

The Doctor sighed.

"Apollo 9 was used to test all of the equipment used for the moon landing." He explained. "If it is destroyed now, who knows what might happen? Russia may win the race to the moon, or mankind may never dare venture in to space again."

The Doctor stopped suddenly, looking up at the grin on the Captain's face.

"Oops."

"This is marvellous." The Captain cheered. "We shall be known for stopping the war before it even began! Prepare to fire."

"No!" The Doctor roared. "You can't fire on a ship with no weapons, no defences. It's deplorable, it's disgraceful, it's draconian!" A sudden grin spread on his face as he realised what he had said. "See what I did there?" He addressed Peri. "Don't even know I'm doing it!" He looked back to the captain. "Anyway, enough about my sense of humour, you can't fire on them!"

"Yes, we can." The Draconian pointed back to his gunner. "Fire!"

"No!" Peri screamed, diving towards the crew member the Captain had addressed. She slammed in to him, knocking him from his post, as several Draconian blasters were pointing in her direction.

"Peri!" The Doctor shouted as a laser shot hit the console, exploding in a shower of sparks.

"Weapons systems down!" One of the few Draconians still at his post confirmed. "20 minutes required until they are fully back online."

"That gives us some time!" The Doctor shouted triumphantly, grabbing Peri's hand. "Never thought I would be grateful for a gun!"

The two ran across the bridge, shots hitting the floor behind them. The two guards that the duo had encountered earlier followed after them, weapons drawn. The Doctor swooped down quickly as he ran, grasping the discarded weapon of the Draconian Peri had tackled. As he left the bridge through the large curved door he fired a shot at the control panel, not before Peri had passed through, and bought the door crashing down behind them.

"That should buy us even more time." The Doctor nodded, looking over the weapon before discarding it. "And if I counted correctly, and I did, all of the crew are trapped on the bridge, for now."

"That's a small crew."

"They're Draconians Peri." The Doctor explained, exasperated with her ignorance. "Efficient! They only need a small crew!" He paused. "Not like human ships."

Peri was gasping for breath now, so much so she was willing to ignore his shot at her race, so simply gave the Doctor a look as he immediately started off down the corridor again.

"What are we going to do Doctor?"

"We need to find the master control room." The Doctor explained. "Each of the main systems are merely channelled through the controls on the bridge. If we can shut down the systems at the source, that should do the trick!"

"Sounds simple enough!" Peri replied, cheerfully. "Then back to the TARDIS and off to somewhere a bit less dangerous?"

"Oh Peri!" The Doctor looked back to her. "You know it's not going to be that simple."

* * *

><p>"Get those doors open now!" The Captain roared. "We must get all systems back online before the Doctor can sabotage them."<p>

"Sir," the weapons operator reported, "I cannot complete weapons systems from here. The required work can only be done from the master control point."

The Captain snarled and looked to the door, where the guards were still struggling to prise the doorway open.

"Then we must switch tactics." He addressed his navigator. "Plot a change of course."

* * *

><p>The main control room consisted of banks of computers and monitors running along both walls of a long narrow room. Peri looked around in amazement, whilst the Doctor stroked the cat badge on his brightly coloured lapel.<p>

"Weapons systems still offline." He beamed. "That's good news."

"Doctor!" Peri exclaimed, as a monitor she was standing by lit up. "What does this mean?"

Rows of numbers started to fill up the screen, before being replaced by a message, reading simply NEW COURSE SET.

"Not so good news." The Doctor hissed, tapping at a keyboard bringing up the series of numbers again. "Looks like they've changed tact. They aren't trying to shoot Apollo 9 down."

"Well, that's good then?"

"No!" The Doctor snapped at her. "The course change is set to track the movements of the shuttle. They are going to crash in to it!"

"That's mad! They will all die!" Peri said, taken aback.

"Doesn't matter to them." The Doctor explained. "Not if it gains them victory." He paused. "Not today though."

He quickly turned his full attention to the keyboard, rattling numbers in to the system at an astounding rate. The system quickly confirmed that a new course had been set, before the Doctor raised a fist and slammed it in to the keyboard. Peri stepped back, shocked, as pieces of the console shattered across the room. Grabbing the monitor from its mounting, the Doctor hurled it to the floor, shattering it in to pieces.

"Feel better now Doctor?" Peri questioned, as the Time Lord readjusted his neck scarf and coat.

"Much." He grimaced. "Now they won't be able to change the course back." He made for the door at the end of the long room. "Back to the TARDIS, quickly! Before things start to heat up!"

"What do you mean?" Peri followed her friend from the room. "What have you done?"

"Merely set a new course." The Doctor didn't look back. "Apollo will take mankind to the moon, eventually, this ship will take the Draconians straight in to the sun."

"Doctor!" Peri shouted. "You can't!"

"I have to." He barked back. "They won't stop, Peri, they won't run away. This is the best option."

Peri avoided looking him in the eye as the Doctor held the TARDIS door open for her. As he stepped inside the corridors of the Draconian ship lit up with a red glow as the alarms started to sound.

As the TARDIS doors closed behind him, the Doctor watched as Peri stormed straight through the console room and through the opposite door. She would understand one day, he knew that. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end, that now familiar feeling of another presence in his time machine. He pressed on some buttons, prompting the Time Rotor to start moving and the engines began their familiar groan.

"What was all that in aid of then, eh?" The Doctor demanded, tapping his foot impatiently as the Architect formed from the golden dust. He cocked an eye brow as the shape fully formed. He was much shorter than the previous forms the Doctor had seen, with messy dark hair and a rather posh looking jacket.

"Still mimicking my old selves, are we?" The Doctor hissed, before quickly getting back to his point. "Though not quite right. So, go on then, explain this one!"

"You have seen the devastation that awaits mankind when they venture outside of their own planet, Doctor." The Architect explained, his voice resonating around the console room. "The Draconian war is only one of them. The moon landing was the first step to mankind spreading across the galaxy." He paused. "In more ways than one. The Draconians are ugly enough, but some of the cross breeds?"

"So, back to this again are we?" The Doctor sighed, ignoring the Architect's attempt at humour. "Stopping progress so that none of the terrible things happen?" He raised his voice to a shout. "The problem is, then none of the good things happen either, do they? And now, I have just condemned the crew of that ship to death, because of your half baked plan!"

"The end justifies the means, Doctor."

"What does that even mean!" The Doctor screamed. "There is no end. The end has not changed in anyway! All that is different is that beings have died who normally wouldn't have!"

"You cannot judge me because of a few casualties Doctor." The voice was cold and accusing.

"I think you'll find I can! I'm the Doctor remember."

"When compared to those that have died at your hand, directly or otherwise, my body count is positively low." He paused.

"Get out!" The Doctor roared, something snapping inside. "Get out of my TARDIS." He turned to the console.

"Very well." The Architect agreed, his voice remaining calm in comparison to the Doctor. "We will meet again."

The Doctor snarled as he heard those words, but slowly began to calm as he felt a surge of energy through his body. He could tell now, that the Architect had gone, despite having his back to where the being had stood.

"Nine lives left." The Architects' voice echoed in the Time Lord's head.

Flipping a switch on the console, the Doctor looked up to the TARDIS monitor.

He remembered back to his second incarnation, when he had doomed the Ice Warriors to a much similar fate that was about to befall the Draconian ship. Had the Architect known about that, he questioned himself. Was that the reason for his latest appearance? He shook the idea out of his head, knowing he would learn one day, or so the Architect had promised. Sighing deeply, he watched the Draconian ship sail helplessly in to the Sun.


	7. Chapter 5 : The Seventh Doctor

**Chapter 5**

The Seventh Doctor

"And so you see," the Doctor boomed to his audience, twirling his umbrella with a showman like quality, "none of you can possibly be one hundred per cent right." The crowd of people surrounding him in the circular auditorium, sat in tiers from floor to ceiling, shouted objections and rebuttals. The Doctor raised his hand to the air and lowered it, signalling for silence. "You all use your great knowledge and theories to live your lives how you want to, and how makes you happy. Does that not make you all right, in one way or another?" The Doctor scanned the section of his audience who were sat in front of him, and hesitated.

"You, however, may want to rethink a few things, Vladamir." He rolled the name over his tongue.

The man responded, but the Doctor chose to ignore Lenin's remark.

The Time Lord stood in the centre or a white, sterile lecture theatre, with seats running around the diameter, with a small gap for a doorway. Occupying every single seat sat the most influential people in human history. The Doctor had already identified Winston Churchill, who had waved down to him, several Popes and Nelson Mandela, amongst others. When the TARDIS had materialised almost an hour earlier, the Doctor couldn't quite believe his eyes. He hadn't had a chance to count, but there must have been almost a thousand people in the room, all loudly arguing with each other. The Doctor quickly noticed that they all understood each other, no doubt a deliberate attempt to get all of these great minds communicating. The technology seemed incredibly similar to the TARDIS' translation circuits.

Silencing the crowd had been a challenge at first, particularly in the case of Issac Newton, but a quick explanation of his first law did the trick. The scientist was amazed at this stranger's grasp on the theory, particularly has he had not discovered it yet. After rattling off some further advanced scientific theories, reciting religious scriptures and elaborating on some of the oldest philosophical viewpoints, the Doctor had them eating out of the palm of his hands.

"I don't know what you hoped to achieve this time!" He shouted smugly. "But it hasn't worked!"

"So I see, Doctor."

The Doctor looked to the newly arrived Architect, then around to the packed seats, and to his surprise all of their occupants remained silent. In fact, they weren't moving at all.

"They are in a form of temporal stasis." The Architect explained. "It is the effect I have on all living creatures."

"Apart from me, it seems." The Doctor snarled. "Much to my disappointment." He paused. "Hold on, what about Sister Jait? You gave her a message didn't you? You have done that yet, haven't you?"

"Of sorts." The Architect replied. "Although they cannot experience my presence, I can still communicate with the mortal kind. My words stay with them."

"Post hypnotic suggestion." The Doctor muttered. "Or a religious experience, depending on how you see it."

"There is no logic in that statement. The truth does not depend on the views of an individual. There must be a definite truth."

"Ah!" The Doctor realised suddenly. "That's what all this was, wasn't it? All of the greatest minds in human history, scientists, scholars, preachers."

"Indeed, Doctor." The Architect replied. "So much suffering has come from the inability of humans to decide on one truth. So many religious wars, so much prejudice based on different ways of life."

"So you decided, if all these people," he gestured around the room, "could come to an agreement, the whole of mankind would just get along?"

"That is correct. The logic is infallible."

"In theory, maybe. But as I said to them, it doesn't quite work like that. People live how they want to live, believe what they want to believe. Some views may be different, the complete opposite, but that doesn't make them wrong."

"In that case, I must change my tactic."

"Glad we agree on something." The Doctor smiled, turning towards his TARDIS. "Good day then, how many chances left this time?"

"I am not quite finished with this one yet, Doctor?"

The Time Lord turned back, to where he imagined the Architect was in the room.

"Are you not? I was under the distinct impression I had won."

"You have convinced me Doctor, that none of these people are correct." There was a pause. "Therefore there is no reason for any of them to return to their own time."

"Again, we disagree. These are some of the most important people in the history of mankind."

"If they are not returned to their own time, some of the consequences caused by their views may not happen. I may still save lives."

"Not this again." The Doctor sighed. "I've still got a Sonic Screwdriver somewhere you know." He looked to the temporal restraints on the wrists of the row of Popes in front of him. "It might just take a bit longer this time. Doesn't bother me, I have all the time in the world. Bit primitive though."

"You underestimate me, Doctor." The Architect sneered. "Each restraint is linked to each other, channelled through a master node."

"Genius!" The Doctor exclaimed, a smile on his face. "And exactly what I wanted to hear. It's through there, I presume." He pointed at the doorway he had noticed earlier. "I'll just pop through and let them all go. Nice and easy." A large grin on his face, the Doctor took a moment to take in the Architect's latest appearance. He wore a dark hat, with a black, red trimmed jacket. However, it was the decoration on the lapel which drew the Time Lord's attention. "Is that a spring onion?"

"You have given me no option Doctor." The Architect's voice was different now, sadder. "If you insist on interfering again, I will have to eliminate them all."

"No!" The Doctor was shocked. "I know you might be a bit daft, but I didn't have you down as a murderer!"

"It is the only way Doctor." The Architect replied. "Do not assume I do not have regret."

The Doctor watched the Architect fade away, and was suddenly aware of a red flashing light on every single restraint in the room. Now released from their stasis, various groups began talking and arguing again.

The Doctor knocked heavily on the TARDIS door before pushing it open.

"Ace! Get out here! And bring some Nitro 9."

"Coming Professor!" His young companion replied from within the time machine.

The Doctor glanced around the large room.

A few moments Ace appeared from the doorway.

"Nice talking Professor!" She said cheerfully, lugging her backpack over her shoulder. "You out Churchilled Churchill! Out Thatchered Thatcher! Wish I could have given her a piece of my mind! "

"You saw all of that?" The Doctor said, intrigued.  
>"Yes, well until you convinced them they were all right, then the screen went blank."<p>

"I see." The Doctor muttered. "So only I can communicate directly with him. Intriguing."

"What is?" Ace said, seemingly unphased by the famous figures around her.

"Never mind." The Doctor replied quickly, gesturing towards the door, pointing with his umbrella. "If I know my temporal restraints, there're about four minutes left before they explode."

"Explode!" Ace exclaimed. "We can't let them all die! If Newton dies, we won't have gravity!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I do hope you're joking Ace." He turned and gave a quick wave, smiling at the image of Martin Luther King in deep discussion with Margaret Thatcher, and Galileo comparing theories with Stephen Hawking. "Good job they will forget all of this." He said to himself as he reached the door, which gave way with a slight push.

"Wow!" Ace said in awe, as she looked over the huge computer console in the rather small room. "That's amazing!"

"Yes, quite." The Doctor pondered, looking at the bank of lights flashing on the console. If he counted right, there was a light for each of the kidnapped individuals.

"What do they mean?" Ace questioned. "Red and flashing isn't good, right?"

"Normally, no." The Doctor grimaced. "But in this case, it means the restraints haven't exploded yet. As soon as they go out, all those people, all those great minds, get scattered though time and space as atoms." He paused. "All flashing in sync though."

"Then what do we do?"

"I thought for once, Ace, I might take a leaf out of your book."

She smiled and reached for her backpack.  
>"You mean?"<p>

"Yes Ace." The Doctor replied, holding a hand out. "Three cans should do it."

She handed one over.  
>"And this won't blow up those cuff things?"<p>

"No. This console controls each of the devices. If it destroyed, they stop functioning. Everyone goes back to where they came from." Now holding the three cans, he looked to his young companion. "Ten seconds I presume?"

"Of course." Ace nodded and headed for the door as the Doctor quickly unscrewed the lids of the three Nitro 9 canisters and placed them at the base of the console.

The Doctor quickly followed behind Ace, throwing the door open, all the while counting slowly. He had barely reached seven when a large explosion threw him to the floor.

"You really do need to work on your counting, Ace." The Doctor sighed, as he looked around the room. All at once, the hundreds of people vanished in the thin air, leaving a hint of temporal energy in the air.

The doctor got to his feet, brushing his jacket down.

"Well, that was easy." The Doctor grinned. "Two birds with one in the bush."  
>"One thing I don't understand, Professor." Ace said as the pair headed to the TARDIS. "Why were they even here?"<p>

"Don't worry Ace." The Doctor said softly, unlocking the TARDIS door. "I understand." He waited for her to enter the machine. "Or am beginning to."

* * *

><p>As the Doctor entered the TARDIS, the Architect once again felt a piece of him float away. As it did, he also felt a sense of relief. This time, he was glad the Doctor had foiled his plan, or at least the second part of it.<p>

He had never felt emotions to this level. When the Doctor had out smarted him, using only the power of his words, something had temporarily snapped in the being's mind. He now understood how the Doctor must feel, with all that power at his disposal, how easy it was to lose control. This incarnation of the Doctor, however, seemed to have control that previous ones he had met had lacked. The Architect was just getting used to the sensation of existing as several different individuals. Each one he had been so far all seemed to be driven by different impulses, yet all worked towards the same goal.

So much control, the Architect noted, that he had only just realised that the Doctor had manipulated him. His clever ruse had tempted the Architect in to boasting about his abilities, which in turn had given the Time Lord all of the information he had needed. If the Doctor was willing to go to those elaborate lengths just to save some time, the Architect dreaded to think what else he was capable of.

"Very clever Doctor." The Architect hissed. "Six left."


	8. Chapter 10 : The Eighth Doctor

**Chapter 10**

**The Eighth Doctor**

The hospital corridor was lit only by the emergency lighting, flickering on and off at random intervals. A long trail of dried blood led the way from one end of the corridor from the other, passing through the half smashed double doors. Either side of the corridor were identical rooms, each with a row of hospital beds. However, each one had been modified, large metal attachments bolted on to the sides and base. Most were empty, but a few still housed the remains, or more accurately, wreckage of their inhabitants.

The Doctor frowned as he immediately recognised the technology; It was certainly beyond twenty first century Earth. He scanned each bed one at a time, noting the various discarded cables and shards of metal.

Suddenly the lights flashed with an intense brightness, lighting up the broken skull on the bed in front on the Time Lord. The Doctor jumped as the dead sunken eyes stared back at him. The sockets were empty, besides a bundle of cables falling from one. Picking it up cautiously, he tipped the skull and peered in to the eye socket.

"Replacing the eyes with optical sensors." He mused to himself. "That's new."

The lights flickered again, drawing the Doctor's attention to a computer in the corner. He quickly swept towards it, noticing the flashing light on the monitor.

"Still working, at least." He kneeled down, finding the mouse, dangling from the desk from its cable, and placed it back on to the surface. With a swish of the small device, the screen lit up, displaying a text document. With the screen now illuminating the keyboard, the Doctor now noticed the splatters of blood across the keys. He dreaded to think what had dragged, maybe quite literally, the last user from their work.

_October 15th_

_Despite the latest failure I still hold the belief that we have been given this technology for a reason. The next logical step would be to connect the artificial brain to the existing optical receptors, rather than attempting to replace them completely. The greatest challenge with this however, would be to preserve the eyes after death._

_This however, brings me to another moral dilemma, in this already ambiguous situation. I believe it is much more likely that the conversion process would be a success if attempted on a living subject. Anyone reading this may consider me a monster, but I am writing this in order to record my doubts over heading along this route._

_There is no doubt that the subject would be in immense pain during the process, but this is unavoidable. As I have discovered, the flesh must be completely removed, preferably by burning, in order to augment the metal shell successfully. _

The Doctor snarled as he thought back to the skull he had held in his hands moments before.

My mind always goes back, however, to the benefits this discovery could provide. It is not my opinion that a single human being be converted completely, and un-necessarily. Instead, I forsee the individual components being utilised on a case by case basis. For example, mechanical legs, controlled purely by the same impulses that move natural ones, could change the live of a cripple forever. There would be little gain in undertaking the full upgrade process on someone with this condition.

_I will repeat, if not only for my own sake, that I am not a monster. This is something that will require a great deal of thought. I am well aware that this may not only change the face of mankind, but has also changed who I am. Just never let it be said I did all of this for myself._

The Doctor looked around the room again, slowly, before scrolling down with the mouse. He knew where this was heading, the abandoned state of the hospital told that story, but he felt compelled to carry on.

_1__st__ November_

_After several weeks of thought, it appears my decision has been made for me. I only returned here to check on my equipment (not that I needed to, this place has been abandoned for years), when I found a body sprawled in the corridor. _

_I use the term body incorrectly, as the man was, is, very slightly alive. His vital organs were just about functioning. I knew instantly that this man would never move of his own power again. It really does seem as if this is my destiny. Not only have I been given this technology, but on the one day I return a perfect candidate appears inside my locked lab? I am not a religious man, but this cannot be a coincidence. _

_20__th__ November_

_After weeks of touch and go surgery, it appears the experiment has been a success. Due to the nature of the subject, I have augmented all of the upgrades shown in the blueprints, bar the apparent weaponry. I still do not know where these plans have come from, but such features are not of interest of me. Vital signs are still weak, but as the artificial systems get up to speed, I expect these to improve._

_22__nd__ November_

_He's moving! Progress has been slow, but the subject appears to be moving of his own accord. Motor actions are slow, but that is to be expected._

_23__rd__ November_

_Visual recognition! Despite my initial concerns, the subject confirmed, via speech, that he can see me! Think of all the people I can help with these advancements already! The blind, the physically handicapped! I am so eager to share my knowledge, but know it is still too soon. Unless I unveil my discoveries with something that will undoubtedly change the face of mankind, I will be arrested on the spot. For grave robbing, if nothing else._

_25__5h__ November_

_The subject has started walking. The movements are clunky, but that is mainly to do with the weight of the enhancements. I am sure that this can be improved on in the near future._

_26__th__ November_

_During the early phases of this project, I was so concerned about the outcome and my own fate that I neglected to think about the psychological effects of the subject. This was a mistake. The subject recognises the achievement I have made, and sees himself as superior. He is of the opinion that he, not he IT, is the first of a new race. _

_27__th__ November_

_It may sound ridiculous, I feel foolish even writing it, but I fear for what this creation may become. In the last few days it seems to have developed its own sense of purpose, ignoring my instructions. As such I have developed a device to temporarily short circuit the neural relays in the brain, rendering it in to a coma like state for anywhere up to four hours. I just hope I never have to use it._

_28__th__ November_

_The subject has grown stronger, and was able to break free of the restraints last night. When I returned this morning it was trying to get out of the hospital. This can't happen. It speaks much more now, but only of upgrading others to be like itself. This isn't what I wanted. _

_I must stop this now. I know when I have gone to far. Today will be my last here. I will destroy the equipment, and set fire to the buil-_

The Doctor looked to the floor, and followed the trail of blood from the desk to the door and back out in to the corridor, where the small splatters turned in to the dried trail he had seen earlier.

He reached the broken door, but this time noticed that it had once been barricaded from the outside. Splinters of wood lay around the doorway, some larger pieces laying further down the corridor. The Time Lord pushed the door open carefully, and took a deep sigh as he took in the contents of the room.

A large bed, much bigger than the ones in the other room, sat in the middle. Dozens of instruments and monitors were attached to it, and to the being laying on it. The Doctor swept quickly towards it, full of compassion rather than fear. The human being that the Doctor assumed had once been the author of the computer log, was now a mish-mash of bone and metal. The Doctor sniffed, the smell of burnt flesh still hanging in the air.

The chest was still mainly human, with wires and metal plates grafted on, blood pooling around the wounds. The arms and legs had been completely stripped of all flesh, and the Doctor could clearly see where metal had been bolted straight to the bone. It was then the Doctor noticed a small black device by the grotesque figures waist. He glanced at it for a moment, before turning his attention back to the disfigured remains.

The face was almost completely metal, apart from the human eyes that stared back from the silver helmet grafted directly to the skull. The look should have been blank, the Doctor thought, judging by the state the body was in, but instead they were just full of fear.

"What have they done to you?" The Doctor muttered, before becoming suddenly aware of movement in the corner of the room. There was a slow clunking sound as a humanoid figure lumbered forward.

**"HE HAS BEEN UPGRADED."** The voice was mechanical, with a lack of all emotion. **"HE HAS BEEN MADE SUPERIOR. HE HAS BEEN MADE LIKE ME."**

The figure was very similar to the one on the modified hospital bed, although slightly more elegant in design. The chest was completely covered with a silver chest plate, on which were several displays. The Doctor didn't pay much attention to them, but assumed they were monitoring vital signs.

"Cybermen." The Time Lord hissed. "Or close enough." He looked the advancing creature in it's dead mechanical eyes, slowly stepping back towards the bed and reaching behind him subtly.

"Superior? You're just a jigsaw of flesh and steel! Even the Mondas Cybermen would melt you down for scrap!"

**"THERE ARE MORE LIKE US?"** The Cyberman questioned, still advancing,

"Oh yes." The Doctor stood his ground, moving towards the menacing creation. "Most of them started like your creator here, trying to better their race." He paused "And then they all became the same."

**"WE SHALL CONVERT THE REST OF THE PLANET."** The voice came from the Cyberman behind the Doctor this time, who had risen to a sitting position on the bed-come-conversion-chair. **"MANKIND WILL BE UPGRADED THEN WE SHALL JOIN WITH OUR CYBERMEN BRETHREN."**

The Doctor was suddenly very conscious that he was standing between two fully functioning Cybermen, and turned constantly, never letting either out of his sight for more than a few moments. It was as the creator Cyberman rose to his feet that the Doctor thought back to one of the log entries he had read earlier.

"No weapons!" The Doctor grinned, first at one and then to the other. "I do love humans some times! Don't get me wrong, they can be the most stupid beings in the universe, but every now and again," he smiled at the Cyberman that had once been the well intentioned scientist, "every now and again one of them pulls through! Makes it all worth it. A Cyberman with no weapons!"

**"INCORRECT."** The test subject responded.

"Really?" The Doctor said confidently. "I don't see any weapons."

**"MANKIND ARE RESOURCEFUL."** There was a pause. **"AND SO ARE WE."**

An electrical energy began to crackle around both of the Cybermen's wrists, running down the bony arm from the shoulder joint.

"Ah,." The Doctor said quietly. "Drawing electrical energy from your systems and using it as a weapon. Ingenious." He paused. "And slightly inconvenient for me."

The Doctor dodged to the left, only for one of the Cybermen to block his path. He moved in the opposite direction, and was once again countered by the second grotesque creation.

The Doctor looked down at the floor, noting the light from the two Cybermen flare from his green jacket. He closed his eyes as the two half-machines stepped towards him, arms outstretched crackling with electricity.

Moments passed, and the Doctor couldn't help but notice he hadn't died yet. That was a relief, he thought to himself, before reaching in to this pocket, revealing the device he had secretly swiped from the once dormant Cyberman minutes before.

Opening his eyes, he pressed the largest button on the top of the flat device. Suddenly the energy crackling around the two metal men dissipated, their movements slowing until they stopped completely. The Time Lord had to look away as the most human of the pair stared at him, the eyes full of pain, confusion and fear.

After what seemed like a lifetime, or at least the lifetime of a human, the Doctor saw the two Cybermen fall to the floor, followed by two large clangs of metal on the hard floor.

He looked down sadly, placing the remote control like device on the floor next to them. Now kneeling, he cautiously reached to the two human eyes staring from one of the cyber-helmets and slid them closed. Sighing, he rose to his feet and was suddenly aware of the tall figure walking from the shadows. He almost went for the control device again, before noticing the figure was certainly not mechanical.

He wore a long brown coat over a black pin stripped suit. His blonde hair was wild and unruly, yet had a certain charm about it. He smiled softly as he approached the Doctor, hands in his coat pocket.

"Thought you may have had me that time." The Doctor faked a small smile.

"I'm so sorry. That isn't what I wanted Doctor." The Architect replied solemnly.

"An enemy who doesn't want me dead?" The Doctor mocked. "How novel."

"I'm not your enemy." The Architect looked almost hurt. "I thought you would have realised that by now. I'm not a villain."

"Strange way for a hero to act." The Doctor gestured to the mockery of humans either side of him. "Creating these monsters."

"I didn't create them." The Architect argued. "I merely provided the means."

"Same thing." The Time Lord snarled. "You can't just give them cyber-technology and stand back! That'd be like giving a Sontaran a nuclear bomb." He stopped. "Please, don't do that."

"You have shown me in the past that I cannot force change." The Architect said sadly. "But I have know also seen that they cannot carve their own future either."

"I've got a feeling I know where this is leading." The Doctor sighed. "And I know well enough that I can't stop you from doing what you are going to do."

The Architect looked blankly back at him and then turned to the Cybermen.

"What are you-" The Doctor started. "No!" He shouted as the two creatures simply vanished, removed from existence in a second. "You didn't have to do that."

"You're so illogical Doctor. Not moments ago, you called them monsters."

"Me illogical?" He snapped. "You're the one who can seemingly do what ever he pleases, yet insists on these complicated plans! Besides, that doesn't mean they had to die." The Time Lord said sadly.

"Again, very hypocritical Doctor."

"No!" He shouted back. "They were only acting out of madness and impulses from the technology! Technology you forced upon them! They weren't Daleks or Zygons. They were just people." He sighed sadly. "People wanting to make things better with a chance you waved in front of them. It wasn't their fault."

"Nor mine." The Architect replied. "I cannot be held responsible for the actions of mankind."

The Doctor was about to respond, when the Architect started to fade away, golden particles dancing around his body.

"One left Doctor." The being murmured before vanishing completely.

"Better make it count." The Doctor sneered as he felt his anger subside, a sudden burst of energy replacing it. He looked around the room once more, now without the threat of being electrocuted.

"Should probably tidy this up." He said to himself. "Funny though. Just like Mondas. That glimmer of hope that grows into something so much more."

He looked to the bed where the doctor, or scientist, or whatever he had been, had once lay. It suddenly struck the Doctor, he had no idea who this man had been, not even his name. That thought alone struck the sadness back in to the Time Lord's hearts.

With his head now a little clearer, the Doctor was beginning to understand why the Architect had done at least some of the things he had. He had lost count of the number of times he had wanted to interfere but couldn't, although he had felt much more inclined to get involved in little ways since his last regeneration. He knew what it was like to have the power to change things, although it seemed that the Architect possessed much more. The Doctor was just puzzled why he didn't use it to it's full potential. To avoid responsibility, perhaps? That way he could justify the outcome by blaming mankind rather than himself.

"No." The Time Lord said loudly to himself. "Must be more to it than that."


	9. Chapter 7 : The Ninth Doctor

Chapter Seven

The Ninth Doctor

The world was perfect. Suspended impossibly in an almost empty galaxy, it was almost as if it had been designed to flawlessly sustain human life. But of course, that was because it _was._

The Architect looked down at his perfect planet. The eco system mimicked Earth's as closely as it was possible for him to engineer. Of course, in order to sustain life indefinitely, all of the plants were housed in artificial bio-domes. At first he had deemed the measure un-necessary, particularly as this whole exercise was to give the human race a new chance. However, after thinking back to what mankind had done to most of their own environment he thought it better to protect this new one, if not only for their own good.

The Architect had also thought carefully about the animal life he chose to introduce to his utopia. Hunting meant aggression, which would ultimately lead to aggression between each other, so he had chosen animals that new inhabitants would accept as pets or companions. Except of course, those needed to help maintain the eco system such as insects.

As he expanded his form around the planet, taking in the sights he had created, he had to admire his own creation. The architecture was very much based on the greatest landmarks from Earth, from all different cultures. Some of them towered in to the sky, a grey block shooting in to the blue, others stood small and sturdy, with brightly colored roofs. The Architect was very much determined that his new planet was to be as versatile as the original, and for that to work the new world had to reflect that too.

He knew it was small, but perhaps that was for the best. Distance meant unknown, the unknown meant fear and fear always led to disaster. He had plants, he had buildings, he had animals, now the Architect needed only one thing.

Humans.

* * *

><p>The Doctor swept in to the TARDIS console room, black leather jacket in hand, and looked around, his eyes wide. His previously solemn expression turned in to a large grin.<p>

"Fantastic!" He exclaimed, running over to one of the large coral columns that ran around the main console. He ran a finger over it, feeling the rough texture. None of the coral structures were identical in shape, all slightly imperfect. He sighed deeply. Just like him.

The Time Lord was basked in a blue-green glow as he examined the console, trying to familiarize himself with the controls. He shrugged the jacket on, and straightened it, testing the fit.

"Much better." He said to himself. The old jacket had been good, for the man he was then, but now he felt much more comfortable in something simpler, something more somber. Besides, the old one would never be the same again, after being submerged in freezing water.

"I did tell him." The Doctor muttered. "Watch out for that ice berg."

It was then the Doctor realized he hadn't yet seen what his new face looked like, the little trip on the Titanic had delayed that. He hadn't even had a chance to get a copy of that photograph. He had rather like the Daniels family, nice bunch, for humans. Perhaps that is why he had felt compelled to stop them getting on that boat. Although, he had to admit he was trying to prove that he had been wrong, that some Time Lords had survived. He had hoped that at that moment when the family cancelled their trip, he would be swept back to Gallifrey on trial for interference. But it never happened. The Time Lords never came. And now he knew they never would.

As the Doctor thought about going to find a mirror, the bright central column of the TARDIS, the Time Rotor, lurched in to life, throwing the Doctor back in to the Time Vortex.

* * *

><p>The crowd were screaming and shouting at one another, all trying to be heard over the rest. Children were crying as parents tried to calm them, although the noise they were making was minimal compared to the bellowing adults.<p>

The group were in what appeared to them to be a large meeting room, complete with a large white screen on the back wall. Not that any of them had focused on the décor and furnishing of the room after simply appearing there, pulled from their own time.

"Listen!" A voice echoed over all of the rest, a voice with so much authority that even the loudest of the rabble immediately became silent.

"I don't know where we are," his voice was shaky, the dozens of faces staring back at him shaking his confidence. "but we won't get anywhere like this. We have to try and work together. We need to organize."

"And you are going to organize us?" A Nigerian man from the crowd challenged. He wore a long white robe and hat, a golden sash across his chest.

"Yeah!" A suited woman chimed in. "If anything, I should be in charge. I run a company you know."

The young man who had first made his voice heard stuttered, not expecting the hostility. He realized that again, his young appearance had given others the impression that they could undermine him. But, he thought, who was he kidding. They could.

"He's right you know." A voice spoke out. As everyone turned around, they noticed that he wasn't part of the crowd, but had just entered through the doors at the back of the room. "Won't get anywhere by shouting."

The Doctor skirted around the crowd, pushing his was to the front of the room, pointing around as he went.

"One hundred." He mused. "One hundred people exactly. To convenient to be an accident."

"So who are you?" The suited woman snapped accusingly. "Did you bring us here?"

"Humans!" The Doctor shouted. "Someone comes, stumbles in, trying to help, and you get all nasty." The woman didn't respond. "I'm the Doctor by the way."

"Where on Earth are we?" The young man spoke again, stepping towards the Doctor. He had to make a conscious effort to stop his leg shaking.

"Now!" The Doctor beamed. "That's the sort of question you should be asking! Although," he trailed off, waving his sonic screwdriver over the monitor at the head of the room.

"Although what?" A young blonde woman asked. She looked quickly to the long faced man who had taken the brave step of trying to make a stand, and smiled sweetly at him, before looking to the Doctor for an answer.  
>"Well, it seems you're not actually on Earth at all." He tilted his head, as noise erupted from the crowd again. "Can't you feel it? Different speed of rotation."<p>

The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Let's not start that again."

"I want to go home." The voice was very quiet, but the Doctor recognized it as a small child.

"I know." The Time Lord replied sadly, talking to the crowd trying to find the source of the small voice. "So do I." He scanned through the mass of people again, when suddenly something hit him.

"Twenty five children. Seventy five adults. Fifty males, fifty females." He quickly recounted in his head, but came to the same conclusion. "You're all here for a reason." He said bluntly. "Look at you all!" He continued, not giving anyone a chance to speak. "All from the same time period, it would seem, makes sense, but from all over the world." He noted an oriental couple on the edge of the group, next to a lone white man who in turn was surrounded by a plethora of different creeds. "Men, women ,children, couples," he paused, "and not couples." He nodded to the young man who had addressed him earlier. "Looks like someone has plans for you lot." He subtly gestured to the blonde woman and smiled. "Would make a lovely couple."

"You mean we are stuck here?" The Asian man spoke out. "You cannot return us home?"

"Well," The Doctor started, and then stopped. He knew he could take them all in to the TARDIS and drop them all back, so they could carry on with their lives. Or he could see where this led. "No." He lied. "I can't get you home."

Cries echoed from the crowd once again, as the Doctor zapped the console with his screwdriver, projecting an image on to the large white screen.

"This," he said over the crowd, "is the planet we are on." He continued talking over the noise, conversations dying one by one until the Time Lord was the only one speaking. "It's small, so much like your own planet, but with so much more." He gestured with his screwdriver. "Cities, forests, even food supplies. It has everything you need to survive here."

"But what if we don't want to survive here!" The Nigerian man snapped. "It may have all this, but what about our friends, our families."

"Tough." The Doctor shrugged. "You've been chosen, for some reason." He glared at the three individuals who had challenged him so far. "Someone is trying to give you another chance." He paced from one side of the room to the other. "You probably weren't meant to be here, but here you are." He paused. "And there isn't anyone to put it right. Not anymore."

"So we have a blank slate?" The young man said enthusiastically. "We can start new lives here, our own society."

"With only a hundred people." Again, it was the suited woman who responded.

"Only a hundred at the moment." The young blonde girl smiled, and stepped towards the man. She took his hand and smiled. "Claire."

""Erm," he stuttered, flustered. "Tony."

"Oh please." The first woman groaned. She couldn't believe that so few people were challenging this man and his crazy suggestion. It seemed as though everyone else was happy about a new life. A chance to start again. No more days in the office, answering constant phone calls, replying to constant e-mails.

Then she stopped and thought. Maybe she could get used to this after all.

It seemed others were realizing this too, as within moments the crowd were talking again, but this time in excited tones, beaming with ideas for their new world.

The Doctor smiled to himself, as he quietly made his way to the door. Already it seemed that Tony had been appointed a leader, and quite right too. As he pushed to the door open he caught Claire's glance, and beamed at her before stepping through, leaving the inhabitants of this new world behind him.

* * *

><p>As the Doctor entered the TARDIS, he had to wonder if he had done the right thing. With the odd exception, these humans seemed like a good bunch. He had an idea of who had bought them here, but decided to ignore it. It was easier that way.<p>

They had been given a new start, a chance to start again. Something, he thought as the TARDIS door closed, that he wished he could give himself.

"Good decision Doctor." A voice echoed, as the TARDIS vanished from the corridor.

* * *

><p>"I kept meaning to pop back here!" The Doctor beamed as the Time Rotor settled.<p>

"And where's here exactly?" Rose asked, leaning over the console, illuminated by green light. "Or when?"  
>"A little bit more proof that some of you make it." He explained, throwing his jacket on and heading towards the TARDIS door. "You lot don't need your planet to survive." He paused. "Life goes on."<p>

As he stepped from his machine, the Doctor immediately regretted his choice of words. He stopped in the doorway, Rose walking straight in to him.

"Oi!" She shouted. "Are we going outside, or what?"

"I am." He replied quietly, but firmly. "You're staying here."

"What! Why?"

"Just get back inside." The Time Lord snapped, patience wearing thin. "I'll be back soon."

"Fine." Rose moaned, giving the Doctor a look as he closed the doors on her. She was half tempted to follow behind, but something was telling her that this time, it was a bad idea.

The Doctor stepped away from the TARDIS and took in the charred remains of the biodome they had landed in. Trees and plants had been reduced to ash, only vague burnt shapes remaining.

He quickly broke in to a run, heading towards the glass door, looking for any signs of life.

* * *

><p>Claire sat in the same room she had appeared in, all of those years ago, back firmly against the desk, facing the back wall. She held her weapon tightly to her chest, so much so she could feel her own heart beating. She made sure to keep her palms out of sight, just because then she could imagine they weren't covered in blood. His blood.<p>

She had lost track of how long she had been in here now, days, maybe weeks. It didn't matter anymore. She was probably the only one left.

She thought back to that first day. It hadn't been easy, but they soon started on their way to a new life. The planet truly was beautiful. It reminded her of home in all the ways she needed it to, but had all of the bad points stripped away. That was until everything had gone wrong.

It was then that she heard the door creak; breaking the silence she had been surrounded in. Nervously she readied her gun.

"Hello?" The Doctor said calmly, walking in to the room. He grimaced at the trail of blood which led to the desk. He was about to speak again, when a young woman burst over the desk, weapon pointed straight at him.

"It's me." The Doctor said compassionately, searching his memory for her name. "Claire, it's me."

She slowly lowered her gun, allowing the Doctor to notice her trembling hands.

"You came back." She muttered, struggling to get the words out. "Too late."

As she stumbled towards him, the Time Lord noticed the blood pooling from her abdomen.  
>"What happened?" He asked, guiding her to the floor trying to make her comfortable.<p>

"A war." She replied quietly, her eyes full with sadness.

"A war?" The Doctor was shocked. "You've only been here a year!"

"Three years." Claire corrected. "Three years ago, you left us here. He thought you were going to come back for us."

"He?" The Doctor questioned, before answering himself. "Tony."

She nodded.

"As soon as it started, he said you would come and stop it." Her eyes began to close. "I said he was wrong, but he was sure. It was the last thing he told me before he-" She choked on the words.

A look of anger spread over the Time Lord's face, but his voice remained calm.

"When did it start? How?"

"Three years ago." She struggled to speak. "Soon after you left. We couldn't agree…"

"Bound to happen." The Doctor interrupted. "But that led to all this?"

"Eventually. Was years before fighting started but all because we couldn't decide on a name." Her voice reduced to a croak. " The planet needed a name."

The Doctor shot to his feet.

"A name?" He shouted. "All this over a name?"

"That is just how it started." He span around, the voice didn't belong to the dying girl.

Instead, a short man holding an umbrella looked back at him, taking his pork pie hat form his head. "As with everything, it escalated. It's regrettable." The Architect genuinely looked devastated.

"And you gave them weapons!" The Doctor spat back at the being, glancing at Claire, suspended in time. "Why even bother giving them weapons!"

"A temptation." The Architect explained. "How can they prove they are worthy of my perfect new world without a temptation. The Forbidden Fruit."

"And you're the snake." The Doctor shouted. "Luring them to their own end."

"That was not my intention." There was a pause. "No one was meant to die."

"They never are." The Time Lord said sadly, before shouting again. "But you bought them here, to this 'perfect world', and because of you, they died here on your planet of the apes!"

"You cannot hold me responsible for this." The Architect replaced his hat. "They chose to use the weapons. You cannot blame me."

"Yes I can!" The Doctor roared. "You know what they're like. Time and time again, you interfere; try to help, just for this stupid race to destroy themselves with it! It's their nature, they can't help it they're stupid, but you just keep trying." He raised his voice again. "Just stop!"

"I can't.." The Architect muttered, a hint of regret in his old voice, golden energy seeping from his mouth as he spoke. "I have four more chances left, and I plan to use them."

The Doctor remained silent, a look of deep resentment on his face as his adversary drifted away.

As he saw Claire move, released from the temporal freeze, the Doctor felt his anger drift away, replaced by a sense of hope. He quickly swept to her level, checking her pulse and looking n to her eyes.

"That's it." He begged. "Just hold on."

* * *

><p>As he descended in the lift, marked with bullet holes, the Doctor tried not to think. However, it was all to much to hold back. Although he was so quick to blame the Architect, he knew that this time he too had played a part. If he had just taken them all back home, none of this would have happened. They would all have died at some point, he knew that, but where they should have been, not amongst strangers on a faraway world. It was then it hit him. He hadn't even thought about the children.<p>

He knew innocents had died during the Time War, as is inevitable in any conflict, but the thought of those children burnt through his hearts. He looked to Claire, still breathing, slumped over his shoulder. At least he wasn't too late for her.

As the lift ground to a halt, Claire began to speak, almost as if she had read his mind.

"We're not monsters, Doctor." She gasped for breath. "They are all safe. The children are safe." She repeated. " On the lower levels."

The Doctor smiled. A small glimpse of light, amongst the wider tragedy. Seventy four dead, twenty six alive. He'd had worse days, sadly.

"Let's get you back to the TARDIS, Rose will patch you up." He checked her pulse, still weak, but not critical. ""I'll find the children." He stood the young woman on the ground, supporting her as they walked through the torched biodome.

"Then it's back home." He sighed, before a long pause. "Wish I could say the same."


	10. Chapter 6 : The Tenth Doctor

Chapter 6

The Tenth Doctor

"Doctor!" The female voice echoed through the TARDIS door as the Doctor rushed through, pulling it closed behind him. The cry came again, louder, angrier. "Doctor! I order you to return this moment!"

"Sorry Liz!" The Doctor shouted as he darted towards the console, throwing a lever joyfully. "Sorry I can't stick around, been fun though!" He paused, running his tongue inside his cheek, thinking. "Mostly, anyway!" As the sounds of the TARDIS engines filled the room, the Doctor could just about hear the shouts of Queen Elizabeth from outside.

"From this point onwards Doctor, you are a sworn enemy of myself and my kingdom!"

As the roar of the ancient engines grew louder, drowning out any noise from outside, the Doctor looked up at the time rotor, removing a golden ring from his left hand, and throwing it absent mindly among the mess of controls that made up the TARDIS console.

"Well," he said to himself, grinning, "that explains that then."

Rushing around the console, the Doctor felt alive once again, the feeling of the TARDIS grating vibrating under his feet as it flew through the Time Vortex to its next unknown location. This was the way he liked it, not knowing where he was going, not knowing what he was going to do. Probably wouldn't get married again though, not so soon. And not to a Queen anyway. That was the problem with royalty, always a bit pompous, just like the Time Lords. Always so obsessed with the power they held, power that eventually would corrupt. The Doctor knew this all to well. He was lucky, in a way, that his actions on Mars hadn't had a huge effect on the universe. The only thing he could see that had changed as the history of Adelaide Brooke. No longer a hero, a mystery surrounded her suicide. The reputation she once had was shattered. Not even shattered, that reputation now never existed thanks to him.

The tragedy of it all, the Doctor thought to himself, as he had done so many times, was that no one would ever know how much of a hero Adelaide really was. She had taken her own life because she knew she had to. At first the Doctor had assumed it was Time getting back at him, but it had dawned on him now, finally, that it was Adelaide's choice. She knew her time was up and had accepted it. If only he could do the same. That thought had run through his mind so many times recently, but he just wasn't ready. His time wasn't up just yet, he would make sure of it.

Suddenly the TARDIS shook violently, sending the Doctor reeling across the metal grating of the floor away from the console. A loud knock echoed through the room.

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed as he climbed to his feet, noting grazing on his right leg as he did so. He knew he should have fitted the TARDIS out with carpet. Again, a loud knocking sound boomed around him.

"_He will knock four times."_

The Doctor quickly forced the thought from his mind. As he did so, the Doctor noted that the cloister bell wasn't ringing, odd. The console was also strangely silent, the only sound being that of the third knock emanating from the walls of the ship. Then, all of a sudden he felt a familiar sensation around him.

"Oh."

On the fourth knock, the TARDIS doors creaked open as a flurry of golden particles swept in to the machine, shaping in to yet another humanoid form.

"Very clever." The Doctor mocked, calming himself.

"It's a rare occurrence that someone has an upper hand on you Doctor." The Architect said coldly, as his body fully crafted itself in to existence. "I could not resist but take advantage of it."

"Really?" The Doctor exclaimed, ignoring the remark but instantly taking in the glaring colours of the Architect's coat. It was a patch worked mess of bright shades and patterns, all arranged in the most hideous way possible. "It was never that bad was it?"

"My appearances are only based on the concepts of your past forms, Doctor." The Architect explained. "Unfortunately for me," he gestured to the long coat, "I have no say in the matter."

"Well, what can I say." The Doctor shrugged. "I was young." He paused. "Ish."

The Architect did not respond, instead just stared at the Doctor in silence.

"So," The Time Lord said finally, breaking the silence. "What mess of yours do I have to clear up this time?"

"I think you have done well enough creating messes of your own, don't you?" The Architect scolded. "Poor Adelaide."

The Doctor's face turned in to a snarl.  
>"Don't. Just don't."<p>

"Do you see how it feels now Doctor?" The being asked. "To try your best, but always to have it thrown back at you."

"It's different." The Doctor started, secretly knowing that wasn't completely true. "I know I don't have that right. But you," he glared, "You just can't see why things can't be the way you want, can you?"

"It's not about what I want, Doctor." The Architect replied. "It's about what mankind needs."

"Really!" The Doctor shouted. "Even if that was the case, why bother going to all this trouble? If you're as powerful as you seem, surely you can just fix everything just like that?" He snapped his fingers. "Yet you go out of your way to make everything so elaborate. It's almost as if you enjoy it."

The Architect merely smiled.

"I wonder who I get that from."

The Doctor turned his back, his long coat flailing behind him as he ran a hand through his brown hair.

"So what is it this time? Distracting me whilst you fill Earth with Daleks?"

"No, Doctor." The being looked the Time Lord straight in the eye. "I'm here for your help."

"My help!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, right sure. What do you want me to do, get the whole population of Earth on board and take them somewhere nice and fluffy where they can live happily ever after."

"Precisely." The Architect said calmly. "Although I wouldn't have put it quite like that."

The Doctor screwed his face up, puzzled.

"I know you can move the Earth using your TARDIS Doctor." The Architect explained. "Therefore you are going to help me shift the planet through time and space, to somewhere they will be safe from the dangers of their universe."

"Yeah, right." The Doctor mocked. "Let me go and get the tow rope." He turned, faking a walk away before turning back. On second thoughts," he mocked, "nah. I'm not going to help you." He paused. "Thought you'd have known me better than that."

"Likewise, Doctor." The curly haired form smiled slyly. "I thought you would know me much better."

"I think I know you well enough. Save mankind, change their past, blah, blah." He mimed mouths with both hands.

"If that was the case, you would have anticipated that whilst we have been talking, I have been working."

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed, noticing a change in pitch in the engines of the TARDIS. "What are you doing?"

"Already done." The Architect confirmed. "The Earth is contained in the Temporal Field of the TARDIS, we are on our way to a brand new start for mankind."

For a moment the Doctor turned his attention away from the console. He cast his mind back to Tony, poor brave Tony. Back then that young man had given the Doctor some hope that maybe there could be such a thing as a new start. Learning of his fate had felt like having one of his hearts ripped out.

"Don't you have any ideas of your own?" The Time Lord shouted, frantically scurrying around the console, checking buttons and pulling on levers. "Last time I did this, it took six of us, what makes you think you can fly the TARDIS better than all of us?"

"Because I learnt from the best." The Architect mocked, as the central column began to rise and fall at a quicker pace. "This has to happen Doctor. For your own sake too." The mysterious being continued. "Then you can stop."

"Stop!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Stop what? Saving people? Plucking planets from the jaws of destruction?"

"Interfering." The Architect said bluntly. "If Earth is safe from other species and races, in their own little bubble universe, then you don't have to get involved."

"Hah!" The Doctor mocked loudly. "You're talking to me about interfering? When was the last time I acted as a trans-temporal pharmacist or-" He stopped himself, noting the Architect's form. He was in his sixth life, relatively late on, but the Time Lord knew he had experienced things the mysterious being hadn't. "Well, spoilers." He shrugged, watching in frustration as the lever he had just pulled flipped back to its original position.

"Likewise Doctor, I have ever caused the eruption of a volcano or been responsible for a Time Lord taking control of the whole planet."

"That's not fair." The Doctor said quietly.

"Why not?" It was a question, rather than an accusation. "Because it was all unwritten? It never happened so it didn't matter."

"That's not what I said." The Doctor replied, knowing he was on the back foot. "Of course it matters. They all matter." He paused, pointing to his head. "All of them, they are all in here."

"I'm sure Doctor. Remembering all those that have died at your hand, directly or otherwise, is honourable, but you have to wonder what may have happened if you had not interfered."

"More people would have died!" The Doctor shouted back. "It's not like I went and told all those mad races to target the Earth, is it? Oh, hi Daleks, why don't you attack Earth again so I can come and stop you and maybe get some people killed in the process." He blew air through his lips. "As if."

"You can't say you don't enjoy it though." The Architect goaded. "As I said, I must get it from somewhere."

"I enjoy travelling!" The Doctor said loudly. "I enjoy seeing new worlds! Of course I do!"

""No matter what the cost." The tone was cold and full of malice.

"What else do I do?" The Doctor defended himself. "If I don't get involved, many die. If I do, more survive but I lose people." He shook his head. "There's no choice there." He snapped his head towards the Architect. "And don't think I've forgotten people I've seen die because of you."

"It's regrettable. But had to be done."

"No it didn't!" The Doctor screamed, slamming controls and buttons on the console. "What have you achieved! Nothing!" His voice echoed around the console room. "You can't just change history like that!"

"Isn't that what you do?" The Architect was no longer angry, but genuinely interested.

"No!" The Doctor replied, calmer now. He straightened his jacket, regaining some composure. "I just," he shrugged, "poke them in the right direction every now and again. Little changes. But in the end, mankind have to shape their own future." As he frantically worked the console controls, the Doctor knew he was lying. The change in Adelaide's fate had changed the history, the details at least, of the whole human race. He didn't even dare to think of the implications his marriage to Queen Elizabeth would have.

"Perhaps you are right Doctor." The Architect nodded, as the time rotor began to slow down. "I too, have been making small changes, nudging the human race away from their own destiny. Perhaps I need to try a different tact, something bigger."

"No!" The Doctor shouted angrily. "That's not what I said!" He very quickly calmed however. "Mind you, I know what happens." He smiled, smug despite knowing of some of the tragedy that would follow. "I know that I stop you, each and every time."

The doctor stood back from the TARDIS console, pleased with himself.

"See! One more for me!"

"How?" The Architect was shocked. "The Earth is back where it should be?"

"Well." The doctor grinned. "Some of us can talk and work at the same time. Must take a lot of concentration to keep that form intact, talk to me and work the controls of a trans dimensional time ship." He winked. "Don't let it get you down."

"You have outwitted me once again Doctor." There was a deep sigh. "This chance, this life, is wasted."

"Because I out-talked you?" The Doctor said, followed by a small laugh. "I've had some anti-climactic regenerations, but never this bad."

"Unlike you, my physical form cannot be damaged, my lives can effectively last forever."

The Doctor stepped forward, intrigued.

"I can do whatever I want." The Architect boasted. "But without anything to regulate me, what stops me from going too far?" He paused. "You should know that all too well, Doctor."

The Time Lord nodded solemnly, he had worked out by now that he and the Architect more similar than he had first thought.

"So what is it, just fancy a change every now and again? Want to try on some of my outfits?"

"Honour." The Architect replied. "When I fail, I force my body to move on to its next life. It is a rule only I can enforce, but one that must be adhered to. For my own sake as much as anything else. I can't carry on forever."

The Doctor smiled slightly.

"Learning from my mistakes I see." He turned away. "Someone has to."

"You will, Doctor." The Architect said softly, his voice distorted by the golden flow of energy surrounding him. "Your song is ending, and you will learn."

"Don't I know it." The Time Lord sighed, as he felt the Architect's presence drift away, the TARDIS engines returning to their regular pitch. He flicked a switch and an image of Earth appeared on the monitor, hanging in the solar system just as it should be. As he was alone in the TARDIS again, the Doctor felt a strange sense or vigour, as if someone had just recharged his body.

He pumped the bicycle pump attached to the console thoughtfully, working out where to go next. Maybe somewhere knew, he thought. At least the Architect, unlike himself, knew how long he had left.

"Five to go." The Doctor muttered spitefully as the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex.


	11. Chapter 4 : The Eleventh Doctor

**Chapter 4**

**The Eleventh Doctor**

The plane suddenly vibrated violently, as if being shaken by a giant. Immediately, the cabin was filled with screams, of both surprise and fear as their so far calm flight suddenly turned in to the most turbulent any of them had ever experienced. One child however, remained silent. His eyes were clamed tightly shut, his hands clasping the arm rests with such force that his knuckles had begun to turn white. He had been terrified enough before the shaking had started, but now he just wished he was somewhere, anywhere, else.

The boys eyes only opened when he heard the mechanical sound of the television screen folding down from the ceiling. Odd, he thought, as they had folded up as soon as the turbulence hit, much to the annoyance of most of the passengers who had their film interrupted. From the corner of his eye, the boy noticed the cabin crew frantically pressing buttons in the galley, trying to store the screens away again. However, his attention was quickly fully drawn to the screen which crackled in to life, the face of a young looking man, in a bow tie, grinning out to the passengers of the rapidly vibrating aircraft.

"Hello!" He beamed enthusiastically. "This is your Doctor speaking! As you may have noticed, you've hit a little turbulence." The plane suddenly lurched to one side, as did the man on the screen. He quickly regained his balance and readdressed his captive audience. "The emergency exits are here," he gestured, "there, and back there." He paused, thoughtfully, looking somewhere off camera. "But I wouldn't use them, because if you look to the left of the aircraft," he pointed again, "you'll see ancient Greece."

The plane was filled with a combination of screams and laughter, as no one knew quite what to make of what they were hearing. As the screens folded away again, the little boy looked out of the window to his right, as instructed. Although all he could see below him was a mass of blue sea, he was sure he had glanced a strange blue box flying past the wing, fading away as it went.

* * *

><p>"Doctor!" Amy shouted, grabbing hold of a rail as the TARDIS lurched violently, throwing her into her husband. "What's going on?"<p>

"Time hole of some sort." The Doctor muttered, his concentration fully on the TARDIS console, turning dials, flicking switches and looking up to the monitor. "A path straight back to the past."

"Like a crack?" Rory said nervously. "I thought they were all closed when you did whatever that complicated thing was that you did."

"No!" The Doctor exclaimed, spinning from the console. "Not a crack." He looked straight at Rory. "And we've been through it before, just a bit of retcon, not complicated at all. Don't make me get the blackboard and string out. Again."

"Finished?" Amy scolded, taking Rory's arm. "Time hole?"

"Yes!" The Time Lord snapped back to the console, as if suddenly remembering something. "And no, not a crack in time, this is different. A perfect hole in the fabric of time and space. A crack is messy, it splinters. But this is different, it's round." He mimed, "And perfect. Someone did this on purpose." He frowned, keeping his eyes on the monitor. "And I think I know who." He swept around the controls, and began typing on the console keyboard.

"So?" Rory asked, as if he had been expecting the Doctor to reveal more. "Who is it this time?"

"That doesn't matter." The Doctor replied seriously. "Because something is flying through it."

"What kind of something?" Amy demanded, joining her friend at the central console. "A space ship?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" He answered, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. "It's a plane. Which is worse. Last time I checked Heathrow didn't fly to Ancient Greece."

"Ancient Greece?" Rory exclaimed, in disbelieve.

"Yes!" The Doctor shouted, frustrated. "Everything I've shown you, everything you've done and a temporal rift leading to Ancient Greece phases you?" He turned back to the monitor, straightening his bow tie. "Now hush up, both of you, I've got a call to make. Terrified people on a plane, no idea what's going on, next thing you know," he threw his arms in the air, "panic! And panic is never good. I'll just set their minds to rest." He smiled to his two companions, before turning back to the screen and clearing his throat. "Got it!"

* * *

><p>Despite the attempts of the cabin crew to keep everyone calm, the whole of the flight deck was full of screaming and shouting, parents trying to calm their children and passengers demanding answers. All the while, the plane continued to shake violently, buffeting everyone around in their seats. Amongst all of the chaos and confusion, no one had noticed the banging coming from the floor of the cabin.<p>

All of a sudden, the thin carpet in the galley flew up, as the hatch below was flung open. The Doctor emerged, poking his head up quickly.

"Oi!" He shouted. "I was knocking." He emphasized the last word, as he noticed that no one was yet paying attention to him. "How rude." He muttered, climbing up from the hatch, followed by Amy and Rory.

"So much for setting their minds at rest." Amy mocked. "Telling them their plane is heading for Ancient Greece. Might as well show Titanic on a cruise liner."

Ignoring the remark, the Doctor quickly turned to the door to the cockpit, which immediately drew the attention of the cabin crew.

"Sir, you can't go through there." The attendant was young and visibly distraught. None the less, she had carried on. She could panic later, now she had to concentrate on her passengers.

"Now you noticed me." The Doctor smiled, glancing at the attendants name badge. "Now Tina, I think you'll find I can go through, and probably should." She simply shook her head.

"Sorry sir, no."

He raised his voice, angrily. Why could no one just do as he asked, the first time? "That's if you don't want this plane, and everyone on it, to go crashing down in to the Acropolis, or the first Olympics, or whatever is going on down there right now."

Tina just looked back at the mad man, saying nothing, and certainly not moving out of his way.

Rory and Amy simply looked to each other, with a secret smile. They had seen him destroy entire armies with just words, eliminate an all-powerful race with just a camera phone, but here he was unable to get past a pretty blonde stewardess.

"Don't you get it?" The Doctor shouted, the passengers now slowly noticing him, many exclaiming that he was the 'man from the TV'. "Crashing! CA-RA-ASH-ING!" He held one hand out flat, and slammed the other on in to it. ""Boom!"

Immediately, the plane was filled with terrified screams of panic, making the previous shouts sound almost silent in comparison.

"Oops." The Doctor smiled sheepishly to his companions. "Done it again haven't I?"

He saw Amy was about to say something, probably something clever, so interrupted her. "Ponds, go and calm this lot down, will you?" He gestured to the rows of seats behind them. "You're human." He looked carefully at Amy as he said this, looking for something, anything. Seeing nothing, not even in her eyes, he continued. "They'll listen to you." He turned to Tina, still standing between him and the cockpit.  
>"You too. Settle them, give them some peanuts or something." He smiled softly, before correcting himself. "Unless they're allergic of course. Don't want that on my conscience too."<p>

"Who are you?" Tina stuttered, clearly unsure of what to do.

"I'm the Doctor." He said in his most assuring tone. "And if I'm right, the poor old pilot in there has lost all communications, right?" He didn't let her answer. "So he can't navigate. Hence the cr-." He stopped himself. "Hence the 'C' word. If you let me through, I can help them."

All of a sudden, she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She wasn't sobbing, she was still calm, but tears began to trickle down her check.  
>"It's my first day."<p>

"And what a day." The Doctor beamed encouragingly. "I've had a few first days like this myself." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You just have to carry on, look after the passengers, and I'll do the rest." She stepped slowly out of his way, turning the handle and opening the door for him.

"Thank you." The Time Lord smiled as he went to enter the cockpit, closing the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"You can't be in here!" The pilot turned and shouted at the Doctor as he heard him enter.<p>

"Not this again." The Doctor shouted, dismissing him. "I'm here, nothing you can do about it." He reached in to his pocket for his Sonic Screwdriver.

"We've lost all communications." The co-pilot explained. "All the instruments are down."

"Shut up." The pilot snapped. "He doesn't need to know."

"Yes I do." The Doctor stated. "And I'm not surprised. Not designed to work over 2700 years in the past." He shrugged, leaning over the co-pilots shoulder to glance at the instruments. "Bit short sighted really."

"What are you talking about, the past?" The pilot demanded.

"What do you think?" He waved his screwdriver over the instrument panel. "Not the future, not the present." He lowered his voice, and turned to the man. Looking in to his eyes, the Doctor could see so much anger and fear and ambition and kindness. He was closed minded, he didn't understand, but he couldn't be blamed for that. At the end of the day, the Doctor thought, all this man wanted was to travel across the skies, not too much unlike himself.

"You've been bought back through time." The Doctor explained slowly. "Down there," he pointed through the front windows, "Woah! It's a long way down! Anyway, down there, is Ancient Greece. Togas and myths and legends and everything!" He paused. "And someone is planning on sending you crashing in to it."

"Why?" The co-pilot asked.

"That doesn't matter." It was the pilot who cut him off, rather than the Doctor. "If we are in the past, or not, we don't have any instruments and no way of refueling. That's what we need to focus on."

"Good man!" The Doctor beamed excitedly. "No runways in Greece! Not yet anyway. Not until all the tourists come." He shook his head. "Can't stand tourists, taking in the cultures, throwing their weight around and then swanning off in to the sky." He stopped, realizing that he had just described himself almost perfectly.

"I don't mind them." The pilot responded. Keep me in a job."

"That's the spirit." The Doctor looked puzzled. "I think. Anyway, here's what we're going to do!" He paused and looked at the pilot's head grinning. "By the way, do you mind if I have your hat?"

* * *

><p>The Time Rotor groaned as the Doctor rapidly worked the controls of the TARDIS, grabbing a lever with one hand and a dial with the other.<br>"Doctor!" The familiar Scottish voice came from the console. "What are you doing, you can't leave us on the plane!"

"I'm not!" The Doctor shouted back impatiently. "Not forever. Much safer on there, that's all."

"Much?" Rory's voice had joined Amy's over the radio.

"Well, a little bit." The Doctor bit his lip, rapidly turning a handle on the console panel. "I'm manipulating a whole in time, did you really think it was going to be risk free?"

"I know you better than that by now Doctor."

"Good." He replied. "Now Rory, let the nice captain have his radio back, would you?"

"Doctor." It was Amy again. "One more thing?"

"What is it Pond?"

"When you ran back down to the TARDIS.."

"Yes?" He said, trying to hurry her.

"What were you wearing on your head!"

The Doctor smiled proudly, even though he was aware she could not see him as he stroked the golden trim of the hat.

"I wear a Captain's hat now. Captain's hats are cool." He lowered his voice slightly. "And at least River isn't here to shoot it. Now! Captain please! I'll pick you up on the other side!"

"You'd better do! Amy replied indignantly.

"Captain!" The Doctor continued. "I'm almost there. I've used the space circuits on the TARDIS to move the hole in space, but not in time.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," The Doctor sighed, "that you should be on a direct course. Fly straight through it, and you're back to the other side, in the twenty-first century."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'll make my own way back. One way or another."

There was no reply from the radio, but the Doctor knew what was coming next, he could feel it. The TARDIS door creaked open, and a flurry of golden particles flew in, like sand whipped up on a beach.

In a few moments, the Architect had taken his latest shape. His hair was wild and curly, complemented by his wild, wide grin. He wore a long back coat, with an even longer scarf draped around his neck.

"Ah!" The Doctor said politely, removing the captain's hat from his head and placing in gently on the console. "I wondered when you'd turn up!"

"I could say much the same for you, Doctor." The Architect replied coyly. "I seem to spend most of my lives wondering when you're going to appear."

"Doesn't everyone." He grinned smugly, straightening his jacket. "You were right about the bow tie though, very cool." He paused, realizing why there was no response.  
>"Right, not happened to you yet. You'd think I'd have gotten the hang of this timey whimey stuff by now, wouldn't you?" His smile vanished as he glared at the being opposite. "Unlike you, who still seems to think they can do something as stupid as crash a plane in to Ancient Greece!"<p>

"The period was a turning point in human history." The Architect replied, emotionless. "Without it, things may have turned out much differently."

"Exactly!" The Doctor shouted exasperated. "For example, mankind may not have developed planes!"

"I fail to see your point."

The Doctor sighed.

"I should have got the blackboard out. If they never invented planes, how could you send one in to the past in the first place? Paradox!"

"It never stopped you." The Architect sneered.

"Well, I'm different. The Time Lord boasted.

"As shall I be." The life form replied. "One day I shall convince you Doctor, I can lead mankind down a better path."

"You see," The Doctor started, walking around the console. "You say that, but you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"Well, by my count, I've seen all of your incarnations. Every single one. Your whole life. I know that it doesn't happen."

"Time can be rewritten Doctor."

"Not like that it can't." The Doctor turned back to the console and flicked a switch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a plane and a hole in time."

"Very well." The Architect sneered. "But it isn't quite the end for you. There is still one chapter of my life you have yet to experience."

"I thought as much." The Time Lord muttered as the image of the Architect began to disintegrate in to golden energy.

"Bye then." He quipped. Despite what the Architect had said, the Doctor knew he wouldn't see the Architect again, not face to face.

The only response was a hushed voice blowing through the TARDIS.

"Seven left."

* * *

><p>"Here we go!" The captain said to his co-pilot, Amy and Rory, as the sky seemed to open up before them. Through the golden circle that defined the tunnel they could see sky, the sky of their own time.<p>

"ladies and gentlemen," The captain announced over the tanoy. "In a few moments we will be arriving back in 2011. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened."

* * *

><p>"We're through!" The message was breaking up over the radio, but the Doctor could recognize Amy's voice anywhere. "What about you?"<p>

"I have to close it." He explained. "I'll track your co-ordinates and pick you up back in the cargo hold." He turned away from the speaker, before backtracking. "Clear me a space though, would you? Don't want to land on any more suitcases."  
>"Roger captain!" The Doctor smiled, he could almost imagine her saluting. "Pond airways, over and out.<p>

"Now then," The Doctor said thoughtfully to himself, looking at the TARDIS readout. "Let's fill this big hole, shall we?"

As he threw a lever, the whole interior of the TARDIS lurched to one side, throwing him to the floor.

"What!" The Doctor exclaimed, pulling himself up using the console as support. He looked to the screen. "It can't be! That energy signature!"

On the monitor, two waves of energy passed from one side to the other, the TARDIS analyzing them.

"Time Lord." He nodded, he's been expecting that. He's recognized it all that time ago when he had first encountered the Architect at the start of the universe. But this time there was something else. "He's part Time Lord," he muttered, before being thrown across the TARDIS and in to a guard rail. "And part Eternal."

The Time Rotor screeched loudly, as if something was forcing it. The Doctor had to admit the usual sound wasn't overly elegant, but this terrible noise made the wheezing and groaning sound beautiful.

"Something's dragging us in!" He shouted at the TARDIS console. "No way out of this old girl!" Almost in response, the Time Rotor stopped, giving in to the force that was pulling it. Immediately, the entire ship was sucked from the Time Vortex itself.

"Geronimo!"

* * *

><p>"The Realm of the Eternals." The Doctor explained to himself, now that the TARDIS had come to a standstill. Relatively, anyway. He had encountered the Eternals in the past, but never visited their plane of existence. He had thought it impossible, but once again, he was proving that it was merely improbable.<p>

"Starting to make a lot more sense." He muttered, checking the TARDIS. "Engines still functioning, but not enough power to get us going. You're going to need a boost."

He turned away from the console, as everything snapped in to place. He knew there was only one way to boost the TARDIS engines, and that would lead to everything he had experienced with the Architect over his past lives.

Something deep within the Doctor urged him not to do it, to just spend the rest of his days here. Amy and Rory would cope fine in Greece, he thought. Another honeymoon maybe, and they could always get a flight back home.

But he knew he was wrong. This had always happened, and would always happen. The TARDIS would always be drawn through off course by the hybrid energy signature, and he would always have to give the engines the boost they needed in order to leave. As such, the Architect would always be given life here. He would always take something that was the Doctors, and repay it. Every time they had met, one more repayment had been made as the being had faded away.

The doctor sighed, thinking of everything that he had seen, everything the Architect had, and would, try to achieve. He had always assumed it must have been something like this, some reason why the Architect's forms so closely mimicked his incarnations. He just wished he didn't have to be responsible for everything that had happened, and would still happen.

He leant forward slowly, towards the Time Rotor, and exhaled deeply. A light golden mist flowed from him, bathing the console in a glow. With no hesitation the Rotor sprang in to life, the life energy of the Time Lord providing the fuel it needed, hurtling the Doctor and the TARDIS back in to the Time Vortex.


	12. EpiloguePrologue

**Epilogue/Prologue**

The TARDIS was veiled in a golden energy, dancing around the Police Box as it vanished from sight, engines groaning as it forced its way in to the Time Vortex. The particles, however, remained hanging in the air, a curious brightness in the otherwise darkened void of the Realm of the Eternals.

It was only a matter of time before one of Them noticed it. They had all seen so much in their long lives, but this was something new, something intriguing that They could not resist.

As the being approached the golden glow, the two immediately combined. The knowledge and life contained within the energy flowed within the Eternal, changing every essence of his being. The incorporeal entity suddenly felt as if it had a physical form, and not just one, but almost a dozen. It had lives!

Of course, It had always had life, but not like this. They had always been observers, using their omnipotence to spy on other races and societies from afar. But now, something new was nagging in his mind, he wanted a purpose, a reason to use these new lives and knowledge.

He scanned though the new memories he had instantaneously acquired. It was like flicking through an entire library, the history of the universe placed back to back in one massive archive. He saw all sorts of creatures and planets, but one stood out more than all the rest. A primitive race, but with so much potential. Mankind.

He could see their entire history in his head, their triumphs and their tragedies. So much tragedy. Such a peaceful race, on the whole, but their entire history was marked with well-intentioned mistakes, which, he could see, eventually lead to their own destruction. He knew how the race ended, cannibalized in to small metal spheres, each one living as part of a whole, until they all went insane.

He had to stop this. He could save mankind, he knew it. There had been some many points throughout their history, which if they had happened even slightly differently, could change the outcome entirely. Even if he couldn't change the ultimate ending of the story, he knew he could make at least some things better, stop some suffering.

This would be his purpose, he decided. Mankind needed a new history, and he was going to build it, salvage it from existing events and reshape it as he saw fit.

He would be their Architect.


End file.
